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Student life

28 May 2025

Bodies under influence: how social media are redefining our beauty standards

Social networks are redefining beauty standards, profoundly influencing the way young people, especially students, perceive their bodies. The Corps sous influence project, supported by Gen-Club and Ecla, explores these mechanisms through an engaging talk, with the aim of raising awareness, questioning and supporting audiences in the face of these new standards.

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Collaboration with Gen•Club and Ecla: A strong commitment to young people’s well-being

As part of its CSR strategy Transforming for Good, Ecla is reaffirming its commitment to the physical and mental well-being of young people by hosting the talk “Bodies Under Influence” at Ecla Paris Massy Palaiseau House, in collaboration with the Gen•Club association. This initiative is fully aligned with the Transforming for People pillar, which aims to offer residents an enriching, inclusive living experience that respects their individuality.

Today, social media has a significant impact on how self-image is formed. It promotes often unattainable beauty standards that deeply affect how young people – particularly students – perceive their bodies. Through this thought-provoking talk, the “Bodies Under Influence” project explores these dynamics, raises awareness of their effects, questions imposed norms, and most importantly, offers support to young people facing these pressures.

This initiative reflects Ecla’s belief that its residences are more than just places to live – they are spaces for life, sharing, and transformation. By opening its doors to such meaningful actions, Ecla Paris Massy Palaiseau contributes to creating an environment where every resident can thrive, both in body and mind – an ambition that lies at the very heart of our mission: to transform lifestyles for a fairer, more humane future.

The talk: the video is also available on the YouTube channel.

The growing impact of social networks on student life

Today, social networks are profoundly shaping student life. Whether it’s TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, these platforms influence behavior, emotions and social norms, particularly when it comes to beauty. Far from being mere entertainment tools, these social media are becoming powerful prescribers of body images and ideals, especially among young people. During a talk entitled Corps sous influence, three speakers explored this issue with a concerned audience: Fatoumara, student and activist who presides over the association Révolte Toi Nanterre; Capucine Coudrier, content creator and activist; and Nabil Ouaili, philosopher specializing in ethics and inclusion.

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Increasingly standardized beauty standards

On social networks, beauty is consumed, displayed and standardized. Algorithms favor smooth faces, slim or muscular bodies and sexualized poses. Philosopher Nabil Ouali points out that “aesthetics are influenced by gender norms”. For women, this often means early hypersexualization, amplified by filters or cosmetic surgery. For men, the pressure is on virility: a muscular body, a dominant attitude, little attention to vulnerability.

These standards spread at high speed thanks to the virality of content. As a result, young people, especially students, are constantly comparing themselves and building their self-esteem through the digital prism. Excessive use of social networks then becomes a risk factor for mental health, fostering anxiety, depression and eating disorders.

Influence as a tool… and as a threat

While the impact of social networks on students is often negative, there are also inspiring counter-examples. Some content creators use their notoriety to promote self-acceptance. The body positivity movement, for example, values all bodies, whatever their morphology or skin color. Influential personalities are redefining norms in this way, even if their reach remains a minority in the face of the mass of standardized content.

Capucine insists on this ambivalence: “Influence isn’t all bad. It’s precisely the fact that some influencers will promote the difference with bodypositivity or body neutrality… And that helps to show other realities.”

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A mental health issue: dealing with social pressure

The impact of social networking on the mental health of young people, particularly students, is now well documented. The feeling of having to be “perfect”, visible and desirable weighs heavily on psychological balance. Students interviewed during the talk spoke of the difficulty of feeling good about their bodies, particularly when they perceive a discrepancy between their actual appearance and the models they see online.

Forms of discrimination, such as grossophobia or judgments about female body hair, are also reproduced in comments and social interactions. This digital violence creates a constant pressure that affects women and men alike, even if it is expressed differently according to gender.

Family heritage in the construction of self-image

Activist Capucine Coudrier shared a poignant comment on the influence of parents: “Our self-image is going to be hyper-linked to how our own parents behave… I’ve always heard my mother criticize herself, saying she didn’t like the way something looked on her face, and as a result, as a little girl, I was reminded of my own insecurities.

This testimonial reminds us that the use of social networks is part of a wider identity process, where self-perception is also built through imitation and family transmission. Social media act as amplifiers of these dynamics.

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Paradoxical gendered aesthetic norms

Philosopher Nabil Ouali’s talk highlighted the contradictory injunctions linked to gender. “When you look at men, how they behave in relation to other men, in relation to their beauty, in relation to their bodies. In fact, we realize that men don’t necessarily want to please women physically. In fact, men go to great lengths to please other men, to be recognized by other men…” So, even sports content is gendered: men are invited to “build” themselves to please, often according to heteronormative codes.

A paradox emerges: men consume content created by other men, who tell them how to please women, in a logic that is sometimes more homosocial than heterosocial. This shows the complexity of the identification models offered to young people on social networks.

The responsibility of platforms and creators

While influencers play a major role in disseminating standards, they are not the only ones responsible. Responsibility does not lie entirely with influencers. It also lies in the way we integrate these discourses into our daily lives. This raises the question of media and image education, essential to building a healthy relationship with social networks.

For students, this involves self-reflection and critical distancing. But it also requires public policies, preventive measures and actions within higher education establishments.

The responsibility of platforms and creators

While influencers play a major role in disseminating standards, they are not the only ones responsible. Responsibility does not lie entirely with influencers. It also lies in the way we integrate these discourses into our daily lives. This raises the question of media and image education, essential to building a healthy relationship with social networks.

For students, this involves self-reflection and critical distancing. But it also requires public policies, preventive measures and actions within higher education establishments.

Conclusion

Social networks play a central role in student life. They influence self-perception, mental health and social relationships. By redefining beauty standards, they impose new models that can generate malaise, exclusion or over-adaptation.

Yet they also offer opportunities for resistance, for speaking out and for transforming norms. Provided they are used with discernment and support. As this talk reminds us, it’s not a question of demonizing social networks, but of understanding their mechanisms to make them tools for building self-esteem, not destroying it.

4 minutes

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