American singer, Melissa Viviane Jefferson known professionally as Lizzo, has posted an unedited nude picture on her Instagram page in a bid to counter the unrealistic and distorted images that dominate social media, Independent.co.uk reports.
The Good As Hell singer shared the picture, with no edits or filters, with her 10.2 million followers, she captioned the picture, “Let’s get real y’all”.
She began her post with, “Welcome to Taurus season,” a reference to her zodiac sign. To celebrate I wanna give y’all this unedited selfie. Now, normally I would fix my belly and smooth my skin but baby I wanted [to] show u how I do it au naturel.”
The “Juice” star added she had partnered with beauty brand Dove and the #DoveSelfEsteemProject – “which is helping to reverse the negative effects of social media and changing the conversation about beauty standards.” Dove’s Self-Esteem Project aims to develop self-confidence among young people.
It cites figures that show nine out of every 10 girls in the UK with low body esteem put their health at risk by skipping meals or not seeing a doctor when they need to.
And its latest campaign, The Selfie Talk, criticises the digital distortion that exists on social media platforms such as Instagram.
The news follows the outcry stemming from Khloé Kardashian’s recent scramble to remove unedited pictures of her that were shared on social media “by mistake”.
In response to the backlash, she wrote: “In truth, the pressure, constant ridicule and judgement my entire life to be perfect and to meet other’s standards of how I should look has been too much to bear.”
According to a survey by the Mental Health Foundation (MHF), over a third of UK adults have felt anxious or depressed because of concerns about their body image.
Jane Caro, practising psychotherapist and MHF associate director of programmes, says the consequence of this pressure to be perfect is “huge”.
“There isn’t a magic cure for any of this; we live in a culture that is constantly feeding us these messages about how we should be, and this idea that there is the perfection we need to be aiming for – but it’s just not true,” she said.
