Yang Mi has recently expressed her apology for joining in on the “anime waist challenge” on social media, following the backlash from netizens online.
As reported on Sina, the issue sparked recently, when the actress decided to join in on the fun by imitating a pose from a comic of a female character with her upper body on the floor and her lower part remaining on a chair.
Though some sang praises for the actress’ flexibility, many slammed Yang Mi for joining in on such an unhealthy challenge that would pressure other women to achieve an unrealistic body image. It was also slammed by some orthopaedic doctors who stated that the pose may cause muscle damage that could affect one’s lumbar spine.
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| The photo that sparked netizens’ anger |
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| The comic pose that Yang was copying |
Yang had since deleted the image and apologised, though her apology was more directed towards the “medical concern” rather than the criticism towards beauty standards.
She wrote, “I only found out today that it could be harmful to you if there is no professional instructor guiding you. I am very sorry. My failure to take everything into consideration properly has created misunderstandings for everybody.”
“I hope that everybody would try to do healthy exercises and stretching movements in a safe environment. I will be more cautious in the future,” she added.
However, it is noted that the actress did not delete the same photo from her Instagram account.
This is not the first time that a challenge relating to a woman’s body has sparked anger among netizens. Earlier, netizens in China created an “A4 paper challenge”, in which women would measure their waist against a piece of A4 paper to see if they have the ‘perfect body’.
(Photo Source: Yang Mi Instagram)