Social Media and the Construction of Body Images: Preventive Strategies in Work to Strengthen Adolescents' Self-Acceptance

In today's digitalised society, our understanding of our own bodies has undergone profound changes. In this view, the human body is regarded as an instrument whose purpose is to undergo transformation in order to conform to societal norms of beauty and health. The body is described as a kind of 'exhibited, malleable, disposable and seducible' body (Schache 2015, p. 334). For adolescent girls in particular, visual platforms such as Instagram and TikTok have become a central space for self-presentation and the formation of their own identity (Blumenthal & Rack 2025, p. 5; Götz 2019, p. 9). This paper focuses on analysing the mechanisms by which these media-shaped constructions of the body operate. It demonstrates how social work can promote self-acceptance among adolescent girls through targeted preventive measures.