Body Positivity Is Lost on YouTube
Traditional media has come a long way on self-acceptance. But the message is muddied in online spaces.
“The truth is, I am terrified right now,” says Jaclyn Glenn in a 2017 video posted to her YouTube channel. “[But] it’s gonna be obvious and […] It’s not something that I’m ashamed of.”
In her video, titled “I’m Getting a Boob Job!,” Glenn reveals her decision to undergo breast augmentation after what she describes as years of insecurity about her body. “This is not because of any kind of Internet comment I’ve gotten that was negative […] This is an insecurity I’ve had ever since high school.”
Later in the video, which now has over 260,000 views, Glenn’s eyes, painted in thick, sharply angled liner, mist over as she confesses: “I’m going to be very honest, like, I don’t even fill out a lot of bras that are an A unless I get a push-up. Like even the bra I’m wearing right now” — she pauses to pull down the neckline of her tank top, revealing cleavage — “I look like I have boobs but I’m wearing a push-up bra!” Her voice catches. “If I weren’t, I would look like… like a child. And that’s something I’ve always felt.”
But rivaling this insecurity about her body, Glenn says, has been her insecurity about being the kind of girl who gets plastic…
