BIO

I'm Lily Jones from Spring Lake, NJ! I'm A first-year psychology at Florida State University. Currently, at FSU, I am involved in UROP, The Body Project, and am a member of Alpha Phi's Gamma Phi Chapter. Although I am an aspiring Clinical Psychologist, right now, I love to enjoy spending time with family and friends and studying here at FSU.

Cookie Cutter Girls: A Content Analytic Investigation of the "Clean Girl Aesthetic" on TikTok​

Abstract

It is well-known that social media includes highly idealized content that contributes to the spread of the thin ideal. Many researchers have utilized content analytic procedures to examine specific social media content areas, including thinspiration, fitspiration, and body positivity. However, no Content analysis have focused on a popular micro trend known as the ‘Clean Girl Aesthetic’. The present study involved a content analytic examination of the themes and characteristics of the ‘Clean Girl Aesthetic’ on TikTok. TikTok videos included in the current content analysis were identified by entering the keywords ‘Clean Girl Aesthetic’ into the search bar on TikTok. Preliminary results suggest that most of these TikTok videos include women who appear to be in their 20s and are thin, white, and blonde. It was rare for these women to embody characteristics that were not consistent with the beautyideal, such as acne, wrinkles, or cellulite. Furthermore, the vast majority of women were seen wearing neutral colors, minimal makeup, and gold jewelry. Themes of motivation, commercialism, productivity, and minimalism were common. However, themes commonly associated with the thin ideal, including thin praise and diet culture, were rare. These results suggest that the ‘Clean Girl Aesthetic’ trend promotes the thin ideal and commercialism to achieve this ideal but may not include as deleterious of messages as other types of thin-idealized content, such as thinspiration. Future research should utilize experimental methods to examine the effects of viewing ‘Clean Girl Aesthetic’ content, especially in those who may not embody the thin ideal themselves.

Keywords: Psychology, Social Media, TikTok, Clean Girl Aesthetic, Body Image