The Latest Body Shaming Trend Is Disturbing

Yet another completely absurd beauty challenge has emerged from Chinese social media site Weibo. Girls are holding iPhone 6s up to their knees to prove that they’re thin, and 72,000 have already submitted photos to the topic page. The trend comes just weeks after Weibo’s controversial “A4 waist challenge,” a “fitness” challenge in which women hold standard pieces of A4 paper up to their waists.

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These two are just the latest in a series of body-shaming challenges stemming from Weibo. Previous trends have included the bellybutton challenge, in which users touch their bellybuttons from behind their backs; the collarbone challenge, where people hold as many coins as possible in the indents about their collarbones; and the underboob challenge, in which women hold pens in the fold under their breasts.

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Some critical users are holding iPads and iPhone 6 Pluses up to their knees to call bullsh*t on the shaming trend. Like many of the previous challenges, the iPhone legs challenge doesn’t even prove that the user is thin – not that it matters. Instead, comparing the width of your knees to that of an iPhone may show that you have small joints. We hope you and your narrow knees do not participate in the iPhone legs challenge to fuel the self-criticisms of impressionable young internet users.