It was supposed to be a regular holiday photo: Influencer Madeleine Darya Alizadeh, known as Dariadaria, posted a picture of herself by the pool. But neither the white bikini, nor the drink, nor her sunglasses, nor her smile caught the attention of her followers.
Instead, it was the few dents on her thighs that were barely visible at first glance. Unaware, “naive”, as she later writes herself, she published the post. However, the response to this was enormous. “Thank you for your dents and for not retouching them,” wrote a follower. Several messages that sounded similar reached Dariadaria.
In a second post, Alizadeh addresses exactly that. “Sometimes I’m naive. Because I think to myself, a photo of a woman’s body on vacation is not political. And then I see the news, the comments and I’m taught otherwise .” Bodies are still political, the diet culture and the reality associated with it is always there. “She’s in a snapshot that doesn’t really show anything other than a happy woman on vacation.”
This statement also agrees with Prof. Dr. Michaela Axt-Gadermann in an interview with Stern: “Cellulite is still a big issue.” The dermatologist dealt with this in detail in her books “Der Abnahmekompass” and “Goodbye Cellulite”. In the case of Dariadaria, it is gratifying that the cellulite is being positively commented on. What is alarming, however, is that cellulite “is not taken for granted and is not accepted as normal and feminine”.
80 to 90 percent of women have cellulite, yet most don’t seem to show it on social media. Instead, it is retouched or hidden behind filters. The fact that big influencers like Dariadaria, who has 334,000 followers, show themselves unfiltered could serve as a role model. But that still happens too seldom, and the influencer also feels it from the abundance of reactions.
What many don’t even know, says Axt-Gadermann, is that just a few decades ago cellulite was not seen as a flaw. “In the past, cellulite was hardly an issue, only the French Vogue discovered the phenomenon around 100 years ago. After that, nothing happened for a while. Until the late ’60s, early ’70s, cellulite was a purely French problem. Only then did the US Picked up Vogue. And suddenly a lot of women have discovered flaws in themselves.”
Axt-Gadermann assumes that it is also related to the fashion trends of the time: “In the 1950s, most women wore at least knee-length backs. Outside of family and friends, hardly anyone saw the bare legs. With the advent of the miniskirt that changed. The legs came into focus. And the cellulite.”
Cellulite was once considered a beauty ideal. “Anyone who looks at the paintings of old masters like Rubens will discover cellulite. At the time, it was considered beautiful and typically female. And that’s exactly what it is: Female hormones are just as responsible for beautiful breasts and full hair as they are for cellulite. Everything that women makes you feminine is related to estrogen.”
Well-fed women used to be considered wealthy. Anyone who could afford food and show it off was rich. But today this trend has changed, mostly slim bodies are still considered ideal. But cellulite is not necessarily related to body weight. “A lot of young and slim women also have cellulite.” Nevertheless, in 2011 the outcry was great when a photo of Pippa Middleton jogging was in the media and cellulite could be seen. Yes, Princess Kate’s sister also has dents on her thighs. So what, so normal, one might think.
Instead, dozens of creams have come onto the market in recent years, and expensive procedures such as cryotherapy or new ultrasound techniques have been developed. “Many treatments only last a year at most, if they do anything at all,” says Axt-Gadermann.
Young people have grown up knowing that cellulite is a blemish, a problem. Because it is so rarely shown on social media, many feel alone with it, and their self-confidence suffers as a result. “The feeling can arise: I’m the only one who has that,” describes Axt-Gadermann.
Celebrities in particular could change something about this perception. But that’s not in their interest at all, explains Axt-Gadermann: “The Kardashians have millions of followers. If they showed up with cellulite, that could change public perception. But many celebrities have their own cosmetic lines. Would they without make-up and imperfect, their market value could fall. They don’t want to expose themselves to this danger. It’s actually a shame that cellulite is no longer what it used to be: normal or even a beauty ideal.”
