Can you pass the belly button test? Meet the sexy new meme sweeping China

A new meme is making waves across mainland China: the belly button test. Snap a photo of yourself while reaching behind your back and around your waist so that your hand covers your belly button. I know you’re going to try to do it anyway, so before we get any further, go ahead. Give it a shot.

Can’t do it? Then you’re too fat for Chinese social media. Or too muscular. Or just not very flexible. The belly button test is a way for young men and women – but mostly women – to show off their bodies. And it says a lot about the country’s obsession with being thin.

The hashtag accompanying the photos on Weibo translates to, "Reach your belly button from behind your back, then you have a good body." (Yeah, Chinese hashtags are really long.)

A questionable rumor seems to be fueling the meme. It reports that US scientists said women who can complete the belly button test have good figures, and those who cannot need to lose weight. Obviously, there are some serious ramifications with perpetrating the idea that being skinny is equivalent to being healthy.

Chinese people are famously frank when it comes to talking about people’s bodies. They usually aren’t shy about telling someone that they’re too fat, too dark-skinned, or too short. However, pressuring young women to be skinny enough to succeed at some psuedo-scientific pop culture test could result in more harm than good.

Thankfully, a few gentlemen with dad bods have debunked the myth by posting their own belly button tests.

Of course, I’m not one to knock something without trying it.