348. The psychology of 'skinnytok'
The Psychology of your 20s
iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 30 October 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Extreme thinness is back in trend (again) so today, we explore the psychology behind why and the impact its having? In this episode, we'll discuss the rise of skinnytok and how this so-called ‘wellness’ version of thinness convinces us to be smaller, neater, cleaner, more controlled.
What to expect:
• How to tell whether content is skinnytok aligned
• Links to orthorexia and the demonisation of food groups
• What does this say about politics?
• The role of weight loss drugs
• Why female bodies are so policed
• How to counteract the impact of skinnytok
If you’ve ever felt smaller after scrolling – physically or emotionally - this episode is for you.
For professional help:
National Eating Disorder Organisation
Follow Jemma on Instagram: @jemmasbeg
Follow the podcast on Instagram: @thatpsychologypodcast
For business: psychologyofyour20s@gmail.com
The Psychology of your 20s is not a substitute for professional mental health help. If you are struggling, distressed or require personalised advice, please reach out to your doctor or a licensed psychologist.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:08.4 | Hello everybody and welcome back to the psychology of your 20s, the podcast where we talk |
| 0:15.7 | through some of the big life changes and transitions of our 20s and what they mean for our psychology. |
| 0:26.5 | Hello everybody. Before we get into it, I just wanted to pop in here and let you know that |
| 0:32.1 | this episode will deal with some pretty extreme concepts around disordered eating, weight gain and weight loss. |
| 0:39.9 | If this is something that is triggering for you or may upset you or you just aren't in the right |
| 0:45.7 | mental headspace to hear it, please feel free to skip this episode and return to it later on. |
| 0:51.5 | We will also have resources below if you are looking for some extra help. |
| 0:57.1 | Hello everybody. Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to the podcast. New listeners, |
| 1:02.4 | old listeners, wherever you are in the world. It is so great to have you here back for another |
| 1:06.7 | episode as we of course break down the psychology of our 20s. So I have a feeling that today's chat |
| 1:15.2 | is going to be a big one because honestly I have been wanting to talk about this topic for |
| 1:23.5 | some time. You can obviously probably feel my passion or rather, I'm going to know, |
| 1:29.3 | like frustration already coming across. But before I did so, I wanted to just like sit |
| 1:34.4 | with my thoughts for a little bit, have some reflections, talk to the trusted advisors. |
| 1:39.4 | I also want to thank our research assistant Lee Be Colbert for her help on this episode and a friend of the show, |
| 1:45.6 | Erin Somerville, who is an assistant psychologist and therapist that works with people who have |
| 1:50.3 | eating disorders. Her opinions and thoughts were so valuable. So big shout out and thank you to Erin and |
| 1:56.5 | Libby for helping with this episode today. But basically, as I said, I wanted to, I wanted to make sure that |
| 2:02.8 | my thoughts were coherent and in the right place. Today, of course, we are talking about |
| 2:09.3 | skinny talk. You likely have seen things about this if you are at all online. It is basically |
| 2:17.2 | a social media hashtag, social media |
... |
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