The race to the thinnish line continues. But why did the starting pistol go off in the first place?
There’s a giant elephant in the room of modern beauty standards; namely, bodies are shrinking.
Vox Media’s The Cut magazine addressed the problem in its Dec. 2025 piece: “Era of Emaciation: Celebrities and influencers have become worryingly thin. It’s impossible not to notice.” From the piece:
Since Ozempic came on the scene, it has become routine to see celebrities drop a few dress sizes out of nowhere. But more recently, celebrities don’t just look thinner than their former selves. They look emaciated.
Even outside of Hollywood, the trend of sickly-thin bodies feels inescapable.
The internet is now filled with TikTok and Instagram videos, threads on Reddit and X, and think pieces trying to make sense of how emaciated bodies have become a red-carpet fixture.
In fact, our November 2025 Socionomist includes its own think piece on the issue, a 9-page cover story titled “The Return of Ultra-Skinny Beauty: Does Social Mood Have Body Issues?” Our report ignores the usual explanations as to why, and presents an entirely new way to make sense of this cultural race to the thinnish line.
Read the full cover story “Does Social Mood Have Body Issues?” from the November 2025 Socionomist today, for a very skinny price of $30.