Basile, 21, has no idea what happened to Constance Bonacieux. In 2023, he was comfortably settled in a small cinema in Arlon, Belgium, watching The Three Musketeers. After an hour, he jumped out of his seat and ran to the bathroom. “I missed the second half of the film. My stomach betrayed me again,” joked this art history student at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Liège. “Lactose intolerance and something else that still hasn’t been diagnosed – I have two more tests to go,” he said, describing an ordeal he has struggled with since childhood. His cramps, sometimes accompanied by dizziness, have already forced him to cancel a date or miss an exam. Basile prefers to laugh about it. In his friends’ group chat on Instagram, a meme circulates: a mischievous girl smiling in front of a burning house. The caption reads: “Basile having a second helping of tiramisu knowing the consequences.”
For a long time, digestive issues were taboo, but they have now found their place on social media. The hashtag #GutHealth – a catch-all term for intestinal health – has racked up 1.9 million posts. Twenty-somethings swap advice about their favorite probiotics or complain about bloating – complete with photos of swollen bellies and unbuttoned jeans. Others, wearing plastic caps, film themselves on the way to a colonoscopy. Humor is always the filter. “Everyone knows I’m the most constipated girl in France,” jokes Fanny, a content creator. According to digital sociologist Yann Bruna, this trend is part of a culture of authenticity: “Faced with strict body ideals, revealing what really goes on with your body sparks more reactions and gets shared more widely.”
You have 76.52% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
