Underwear selfies is the new ‘it’ trend on social media

The growing influence of Korean cultural exports is undeniable. Whether it’s K-pop, K-drama or dangote honeycomb from this year’s largest TV phenomenon, Squid Game.

And now, it seems as if the country has spawned the latest social media trend, too. Underwear selfies, better known by its hashtag as “body profiling”. A growing number of Koreans have started posting pictures of themselves in their underwear or in various stages of undress, suggestively and innocently, and the rest of the world is following.

Both men and women are booking body profiling shoots with photographers, working out and dieting to shape themselves into profiling-worthy looks. Psychologist Louisa Niehaus says that the new trend and its spread may be a consequence of the pandemic.

“We have been cooped up, socially distanced and socially isolated. Some of us love to preen, show off and be seen. There has been little opportunity to do this during a lockdown. An exaggerated preening or showing off is a reaction to social curtailment and socially minimised lives we’ve been living.”

Posts are not necessarily sexually suggestive, and many turn underwear into lounge or activewear. Locations vary from bedrooms to restrooms and studio shots. In Korea, a body profiling photoshoot can cost as much as R15,000 according to a report in The Economist.

Less daring social butterflies substitute swimwear for underwear, but the lifestyle aspect of showing off body and skin remains the same. “In the aftermath of reduced social interaction, a significant lessening of ego stroking, social validation and correspondent admiration, people are going to find new ways to get attention,” says Niehaus.

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After all, celebrities have been doing it for ages. The Kardashian and Jenner clan have made a point of showing as much skin as possible while also propagating the notion of body acceptance. And the world is responding. Posting images in their knickers and boxers is not limited to picture perfect subjects.

Instead, and at times with a little help from some creative editing, people with varying body shapes are starting to serve up their pictures, too. Conversely the risk of accumulating negative body image due to online bullying is also there, but people are taking risks anyway.

“These days we have filters to manipulate and create perfection and at the same time edit, crop and produce our own brand of beauty,” says Niehaus.

South African social media users are no strangers to several forms of body profiling online. It’s possibly just the hashtag that’s missing. Scrolling through accounts there are thousands of posts that show off bikini bodies, topless men in tight denims and both sexes in their underwear.

More daring garners more attention, more likes and more followers. And everybody wants to be an influencer in some shape or form.

 “What’s the point of the body beautiful if there is no one to admire it?” suggests Niehaus. “The myth of Narcissus came about because Narcissus fell in love with his own beauty reflected in a pool of water.”