TikTok, Detox teas, Juice Cleanses, and Female Body Regulation

 

This image is from the Tiktok page called “Juicing Etc” where they showcase different juice cleanses or teas that they claim will help people lose weight, detox, and overall cleanse their body. The picture shows the ingredients of one of their juices, which consists of cucumbers, lemons, and pineapples. The account claims that drinking this juice right when you wake up and right before you go to bed will leave you feeling “refreshed and rejuvenated.” Other videos on their page show different juice cleanses you can do and how the juices will not only help your gut health and metabolism but also help you lose weight and prevent bloating. Additionally, the comments in these videos further support these videos by making comments in favor of the juices. One comment on their video said, “It does work just be consistent!”, while another comment said, “I lost 8 pounds in two weeks doing this! And I still ate one meal a day!” Videos like this one are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to videos that target women, primarily younger women, that promote weight loss, detox, and overall cleansing. Not only do these videos contain misinformation, but they also participate in the classification of certain foods and behaviors as pure or impure and reinforce social norms and values around health and fitness,  as well as engage in rituals of purification to maintain order and status within their communities.

In Mary Douglas’ Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo, she discusses Durkheim’s ideas about the sacred and profane from his work in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life to draw connections from her concept about dirt and disorder. Douglas discusses how classification is inherent in organization and how dirt is “powerful, dangerous, and performative” (Douglas 2002). Douglas elaborates that although dirt has no inherent meaning, people give dirt meaning to help try to make sense of the world. Douglas also touches upon how we organize dirt, demonstrating how we organize society as a whole, and there are systematic clarifications of how we organize our bodies and understand the environment around us (Douglas 2002). The world is broken up through ritual movements, and people pure themselves in different environments and by performing certain rituals (Douglas 2002). Overall, Douglas argues that societies developed elaborate classifications and rituals to maintain order and reduce ambiguity, reinforcing social norms. 

TikTokers promoting detox teas or juice diets reinforce Douglas’ ideas of the classification of bodies, rituals of purification, and overall control relating to gendered expectations. Douglas touches upon how societies classify elements as pure or impure based on cultural norms or values. In the context of TikTok influencers promoting these juice cleanses or teas, they are assuming a classification of bodies into two categories: "pure” or desirable, or bodies considered “impure” or bodies in need of purification. Influencers on TikTok use this symbolism to reinforce the idea that consuming these teas or juices is a means of achieving purity and conforming to societal standards of health and beauty; by engaging in these rituals, TikTikers signal and show their commitment to achieving purity. Additionally, promoting these teas and juices can be seen within the broader context of regulating female bodies. Women, in particular, often face intense scrutiny and pressure to conform to unrealistic beauty standards, which leads to the commodification of products and practices that promise to cleanse and detoxify the body. These products or rituals perpetuate the control and regulation of female bodies within patriarchal societies, which reinforce harmful gender norms and expectations. Overall, Mary Douglas’ ideas about ourty and danger provide a framework for understanding how influencers contribute to the social dynamics of regulating female bodies. These influencers classify bodies based on cultural values and norms, use symbolism to engage in rituals of purification and perpetuate gendered expectations and control.

Douglas, P. M. (2002). Purity and danger. Routledge.