Blog Post #3 DUFF Culture

How has DUFF (designated ugly fat friend) culture affected me?



https://www.pickpik.com/woman-glass-mirror-animal-mirror-fairy-tale-nature-66512


    As a child and throughout most of my adolescence, I was blissfully unaware of my flaws. It wasn't until middle school that I, along with every other girl my age, discovered how "ugly" I was. 
    From a young age, girls are told by society that their job is to look pretty. Although my parents tried their best to fight that stereotype, they could not keep the internet and my peers from forcing beauty standards onto me. 
     Generation Z is the first generation to grow up with social media. Most of us downloaded Instagram when we were just preteens, developing as individuals and creating our own identities. We went through puberty while the world watched us, and our parents were not technologically aware enough to limit our screen time. 
    While I can't speak for the thoughts and feelings of my peers, I know that, personally, unmonitored and unlimited access to social media was detrimental to my mental development as a young woman. I became highly aware of my appearance after downloading social media, and I have maintained that intense self-awareness throughout my early adulthood. 
    The movie The Duff came out in 2015 and became a pivotal part of GenZ and millennial culture. The term DUFF (designated ugly fat friend) was quickly coined by social media users and is still used today as an insult. 
    I first heard the term in middle school when one of the "popular" girls commented on an Instagram post with me and all of my friends calling me the DUFF. I was utterly mortified, and the interaction facilitated insecurities that I still have today. 
    Although bullying is not a new phenomenon, the emergence of social media allowed for a sense of anonymity with no repercussions that was extremely dangerous to young, impressionable girls. I feel that the toxic social media culture created in the last decade has already damaged Generation Z and could continue to harm future generations if nothing changes.  
    


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