Amanda Ekström, 23, who comes from Länghem outside Borås, was tired of only seeing well-trained and retouched bodies in social media. She began publishing images of people with all kinds of bodies to normalize different types of body shapes.
- As long as there is a single person who can be affected or hinder himself because of his body, different bodies need to be normalized, says Amanda Ekström, whose Instagram account "Chewing resistance" has over 25,000 followers.
"Look here, no one has whales"The idea came when she substituted as a teacher a few years ago. Some of the 14-year-old girls in the class sat and counted whales in a group room, discussing the best ways to train them.
- They showed me accounts on social media and said "check out Amanda, no one here has whales". Then I thought why doesn't anyone do something about this? Why don't you show what bodies really look like, she says.
When she started her account almost three years ago, she initially received a very negative response. Today she receives many cheers but also hatred and threats for the pictures she publishes, she says.
- I realized that such pictures are needed. If people go "loco" for posting pictures on whales on Instagram, then you have to post more pictures with whales on Instagram, she says.