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This is an archive article published on March 17, 2016
Move over size zero, the A4 waist challenge is the latest body shaming trend ruling social media
Chinese women are now hankering after a waist thinner than the breadth of an A4-sized sheet — that's less than 21cm!
2 min read
Why are so many Chinese women uploading selfies with A4-sized sheets? In a bizarre trend, a waist smaller than the breadth of an A4-sized sheet has become the new standard of beauty on social media. (Source: cctvnews.cn)
Chinese social media users — mainly women — have been engaged in a bizarre mission to attain a waist thinner than the breadth of a regular A4 size paper sheet. Millions of women have taken up the challenge and selfies of women holding an A4 size paper against their waist vertically has swept through Weibo — the Chinese equivalent of Twitter — and Instagram.
My girlfriend says the size of her waist is A4 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Aq5cHsVOtO
— 卞明轩 (@bianmingxuan) March 14, 2016
Not unlike the size zero and thigh gap trends, the A4 waist challenge has been widely criticised by the body-positive movement — which aims to instil in people a healthy respect and acceptance of all body shapes and sizes. The concern over the rising popularity of the trend is understandable as a standard A4 -sized sheet measures just 21cm across!
#A4 waist
the summer is coming ～OMG～ pic.twitter.com/u3lmqlFO3d— Lizzy Way (@Lizzy_emotion) March 15, 2016
The men have — thankfully — stayed away from the trend. Some who did take up the challenge did so in a much smarter way — by holding the paper horizontally against their waist.
A4 waist-A slim waist thin than A4 paper 😄 pic.twitter.com/9FiClJx0aL
— Xavier Xiong (@xionzhiwei) March 15, 2016
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