Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt self-conscious after scrolling through Instagram? With today’s oh-so-unattainable Insta model ideal (wide hips, round butt with no cellulite, itty bitty waist, large chest…) plastered all over our feeds, we’re willing to bet there isn’t a woman with her hand down right now. As social media seems somewhat more ‘real’ than photoshopped magazine covers, it’s easy to assume that the models *really* look like that—and wonder why we don’t. That’s why we’re always so pleased when influencers remind us that things aren’t always as they seem on social media.
The latest Instagrammer to do that is Aussie Karina Irby, owner of Moana Bikini. Karina, 28, recently shared a video that shines a light on the typical ‘Insta Girl Edit’ with her 840,000+ followers. “Where the skin gets smoother, the ass gets better, the boobs get bigger, the waist gets smaller and online confidence goes through the roof,” she explains.
“But what happens offline? When did we lose our little girl confidence? When we were young we didn’t care how we look, and we surely didn’t compare ourselves to the girl next to us,” Karina writes. “Whether it be social media, magazines, movies or Hollywood… something changes and we start endlessly comparing ourselves to others and strive to potentially be something we aren’t. I’ve been there. And I’m confident a lot of us reading this have, or are still painting a different picture of themselves,” she writes. The sooner we decide to accept ourselves for who we are and care less about other people’s criticism, the happier we are going to be. I know from first-hand experience I am!”
Unsurprisingly, the empowering post has racked up more than 25,000 likes, 30,000 views and hundreds of supportive comments.
“Showing this trick to edit is seriously making me feel sane again. Us women get this unrealistic ideal image of how our body should look and in reality most of it ain’t even real!!!!! Thanks for sharing,” says Instagram user @diamonddallas_xox.
“Thank you for being a beacon of owning who you are, the goddess that the universe made you to be. It’s really insane how so many of us can get caught up and attached to what happens in tiny squares on the internet. Tiny squares should not have power over your life and it sucks that so many females can become consumed by it to the point where they feel like they have to change the way they look,” says Instagram user @whitneymarie419.
This isn’t the first time Karina has opened up to her audience. She often gets real and raw about the realities of Instagram, body confidence and her transformation from skinny to strong, fit and happy.
