As we found out earlier this summer in the results of our survey of 1,100 R29 readers, social media stirs up a lot of complicated feelings around body image. Others' gym selfies, for example, can trigger self-consciousness, while body-positive users (such as Tess Holliday) can inspire confidence. Luckily, Instagrammers posting about self-love and acceptance tend to use the same hashtags, in turn carving out a body-positive community for themselves online.
In order to learn more about this community, Bulimia.com, an online collective that aims to empower and inform people struggling with eating disorders and body image, analyzed over 85,000 Instagram posts with body-positive hashtags. Not only did it find that users were more likely to post certain hashtags than others, but the site's report also found that those from certain states tended to be more vocal about body-positivity on social media.
By a huge margin, Instagram users from Oregon posted the most photos with body-positive hashtags, with 133 posts per 100,000 residents. 'Grammers from Utah, Nevada, New York, and California rounded out the states with the most body-positive posts. New Mexico had the fewest, with less than five posts per 100,000 residents. This might be due to differences in regional attitudes, but, then again, it could simply be a matter of who posts more to Instagram in general.
So, what about the hashtags themselves? The aforementioned Holliday's very own body-positive battle cry, #EffYourBeautyStandards, was found to be the most frequently used hashtag — about a third of all the posts included it. The study noted that posts with this hashtag garnered an average of 183 likes each, suggesting just how supportive this community really is.
Check out the top 10 most popular body-positive hashtags below, and tell us how you tag your own selfies in the comments. In our humble opinion, we love 'em all.
1. #EffYourBeautyStandards
2. #BodyPositive
3. #CelebrateMySize
4. #HonorMyCurves
5. #PlusIsEqual
6. #ImNoAngel
7. #AlternativeCurves
8. #PlusSizeOOTD
9. #AllBodiesAreGoodBodies
10. #BodyAcceptance
2. #BodyPositive
3. #CelebrateMySize
4. #HonorMyCurves
5. #PlusIsEqual
6. #ImNoAngel
7. #AlternativeCurves
8. #PlusSizeOOTD
9. #AllBodiesAreGoodBodies
10. #BodyAcceptance
It's your body. It's your summer. Enjoy them both. Check out more #TakeBackTheBeach here.