One TikToker has taken body positivity and made it 2020 specific, sharing a video celebrating the weight she’d gained during the quarantine. The clip blew up, attracting millions of likes and views in just days.
In a TikTok on Wednesday, user @Chloe_xandria posted a clip with the text “choosing to appreciate the body that supported me during a global pandemic,” paired with audio that said, “show a picture of you in January, then a picture of you in December.”
In the video, she shows a picture of herself posing in a crop top and jeans, smiling into a mirror from early 2020 and follows it up with a more recent video in sweatpants and T-shirt pulled up to show her stomach and back, smiling. She captioned the video with hashtags like “normalize normal bodies” and “body positive.”
The TikTok quickly blew up, receiving 2.2 million likes in just a few days. Many of the original video’s comments were positive, as many users applauded her “normalizing” weight gain during the pandemic and putting a positive spin on the physical changes many of them had experienced during a stressful year.
According to a COVID wellness survey conducted by WW, 36% of Americans have gained 12.5 pounds on average during the pandemic, and terms like “quarantine 15” began circling almost as soon as the country shut down back in March. Based on many of the comments on @Chloe_xandria’s post, the positive spin she put on this phenomenon seems to be what attracted people to her video.
Not all over the attention was positive, however. She posted a follow-up on Thursday saying she had decided to turn off comments on the original video due to “death threats and nasty comments.” She also thanked her supporters in the announcement and said she will “continue to fight to normalize all bodies.”
“Omg, what r people so mad for!?!? That u love yourself no matter what? What a crime,” said one commenter.
“Finding your account has changed my life and showed me that it is okay to be okay with my body!!’ said another.
Some commenters accused her of being “unhealthy,” or “promoting a bad lifestyle.” Others tried to give her advice on how to lose the weight or offered speculation as to why she gained it, and those comments, most of all, were met with their own backlash.
“Sometimes life happens & you gain weight. It’s not our place to say what’s healthy vs what isn’t if it’s not our body!’ said one commenter, responding to a comment that said “I don’t understand how this is a good thing.”
@Chloe_xandria is dedicated to what her bio calls being a “mid-sized hype girl,” and her account is of videos showing fashion for women considered “mid-size.” She posts body-positive content to “make people feel more comfortable in their own skin” and shows off her own sense of style. Though she’s had to post multiple addressing hate comments about her body in the past, and much of her content has the comments section turned off, she boasts over 252 million followers and 5.7 million likes, which seems to indicate she’s also built a large audience of people who support her message.
With body-positive movements taking off on TikTok, and 319.2 million views on the “normalize normal bodies” hashtag alone, posts like @Chloe_xandria’s seem to be picking up steam as 2020 comes to a close, even if there are plenty of trolls in the mix.
TikTok has over 800 million users and is one of the top social media platforms of 2020. LIONEL BONAVENTURE/Getty
