• Jealousy over pixels: GTA 6’s ‘romantic’ features spark an online scandal

  The highly anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto VI — scheduled for November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S — has triggered an unexpected real-life controversy. Girlfriends, fiancées and wives around the world are reportedly threatening to boycott the game, arguing that virtual romances with its female protagonist, Lucia, amount to real-life cheating...

• Three Berlin men are ‘marrying’ each other — but there’s no sex: “We just love each other”

  They live together, but they aren’t a couple. They wear wedding rings, but have no plans to have sex. And now they have decided to get married. Three friends from Berlin — Karam Nwilati, Kristian Naydenov and Santeri Lehtonen — have made friendship the central partnership of their lives, The Independent reports...

• “We Went Down Like the Titanic”: Newlyweds Plunge Into River During Wedding Photoshoot

  Newlyweds Jamie and Michelle Wade, both 46, were posing for photographs in a canoe on the River Bure in Norfolk, England, when they lost their balance and ended up plunging straight into the water...

• Sickle Around Her Neck, Padlock on Her Toe: The “Vampire” in the Grave Was an Innocent Teenager

  The “real vampire” who was feared so intensely that she was buried in a locked grave rigged with a deadly trap was actually just a teenage girl. The circumstances surrounding her death, however, remain a mystery, according to the NYP...

• Australia Holds Its First Funeral in a “Living Coffin” Made from Mushrooms and Hemp

  Australia has held its first-ever burial using an unusual and eco-friendly coffin made from fungi and hemp. A 70-year-old woman named Carolyn became the first person in the country to be buried in what is known as a “Living Cocoon.” Her funeral service was held in Faulconbridge, with the burial taking place at Springwood Cemetery in the picturesque Blue Mountains...

• Former OnlyFans Manager Calls Platform a “Bottomless Pit”: “Sexual Freedom Is a Lie”

  Victoria Sinis, who previously ran an OnlyFans management agency in Australia, has publicly turned her back on the adult industry after returning to her Christian faith. She is now warning about the darker side of the business, describing modern “sexual freedom” as a lie that can leave both women and men with lives in ruins...

• Fashion Victim or the Real Bigfoot? Hairy ‘Monster’ Terrifies an Entire US Town

  Maine police launched an investigation after a small town was flooded with 911 calls from residents claiming they had spotted Bigfoot wandering the streets. It eventually turned out that the mysterious creature was simply a man in a furry costume — albeit one so convincing that he managed to scare an entire town, according to the New York Post...

• What Do Jeff Bezos, Shakespeare and Genghis Khan Have in Common?

  What does it take to become great? Being in the right place at the right time? Possessing extraordinary genius? Or does true greatness require something more? Daily Mail explores the question...

Director and screenwriter Chloe Wallace recently sparked social media conversations following the Oscars by criticizing the resurgence of extreme thinness as a beauty standard, according to El Pais.

“Every red carpet, every event, every time I open Instagram—they’re thinner than last week… it’s like an invisible contest everyone is competing in,” Wallace wrote.

Previously, the pursuit of thinness was overt: calorie counting, strict diets, and fasting. Today, it hides behind the guise of health. “Now it’s weekly injections that suppress hunger. Thinness has become capital again. This isn’t aesthetics—it’s politics. And the most insidious part is it’s presented as health and well-being,” she warned.

The post went viral, garnering tens of thousands of likes, comments, and shares. Experts have long raised alarms: the “heroin chic” aesthetic of the 1990s is returning, now amplified by social media and cloaked in the language of health and wellness.

“Heroin Chic” in the 21st Century

According to nutritionist Azahara Nieto, there were periods of “neutral body” aesthetics when societal pressure to meet beauty standards was lower. Today, thinness is back—and it “hides behind health.”

Dietitian Violeta Moise notes that “heroin chic used to be provocative and aesthetic.” “Now it’s more sophisticated: wellness, discipline, and body optimization.”

Social media intensifies this pressure, increasing mental health risks and contributing to eating disorders. “Recovery in a society that glorifies extreme thinness is extremely challenging,” Nieto emphasizes.

The Role of Medications and the “Ozempic Effect”

Experts also point to the growing popularity of appetite-suppressing drugs like Ozempic, which can help users lose 15–25% of body weight. Despite their medical purpose, they are often used for aesthetic thinness. Celebrity campaigns, such as those featuring Serena Williams, highlight beauty over health.

Endocrinologist Andrea Chiudin warns of risks: high doses and unsupervised use can lead to malnutrition and complications. With falling prices and expiring patents, uncontrolled use—and the potential rise in eating disorders—could increase.

Thinness as Status and Control

Moise stresses that “body ideals reflect social values: control, discipline, productivity, conformity.” Philosopher Magdalena Pineiro adds that the return of extreme thinness is a reaction to the body-positive movement. Thinness is now framed as a symbol of status, success, and moral superiority.

Nieto notes, “In the past, people told you you were fat; now they say you have inflammation.” Under the guise of health and fitness, a strict system of body control emerges: what you can eat, what you can’t, what’s good, what’s bad.

Extreme thinness disguised as health leads to frustration, health problems, and rising eating disorders among young people. Pineiro urges critical thinking about the idea of “health through hunger and pharmaceuticals”: “Equating thinness with health is a mistake, especially when many people become sick trying to reach imposed beauty ideals.”

Follow NEWS.am STYLE on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram