For centuries women have been finding new things to change about their bodies, new ways to “improve” themselves, new standards they feel they need to meet. What has struck today’s generation is the idea of the “thigh gap,” a space between the inner thighs of women. Although this may sound a little strange, thousands of girls are trying to achieve this new bodily standard.
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The craze started after the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show when girls started making memes and commenting on the thin thighs of the models all over Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and other social media sites. A Twitter account was even made called “Cara’s Thigh Gap” and was devoted to the slim thighs of model Cara Delevingne. In 2013, a book called The Thigh Gap Hack was published, and the author, Camille Hugh, was even invited onto the Dr. Oz show, where she was interviewed about her book. “Thinspiration” blogs and accounts began making thousands of posts dedicated to the thigh gap, encouraging girls to try to achieve this for the “ideal body.”
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Fitness gurus have posted tons of videos giving girls exercises to achieve the “thigh gap.” Girls everywhere now suddenly want one, disgusted by the idea of their thighs touching. What’s absurd and unrealistic about this notion is that depending on the size of your hips, this could be an impossible achievement. If your hips (which are impossible to change because it’s your bone structure) are narrow, you won’t be able to have a thigh gap because your thighs are close together. For girls with wider hips, achieving one is much easier (yet also not a neccesity).
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This notion of beauty is false and unrealistic. Over this past summer, Target put out a bathing suit add where anyone with eyes could see they literally removed a square between the model’s thighs. After fitness guru Casey Ho made a post protesting against it, the ad received so much backlash that it was removed. The model even went on The Ellen Show to laugh about the awful photoshopping job that had been done to her body.
Instantly, the other side of Tumblr, the anti-thinspiration side, started making blogs such as No Thigh Gap and Touching Thighs to promote a healthy body image and healthy eating. The US National Eating Disorders Association began to put out campaigns against this trend, fearful that the thigh gap could increase extreme dietary habits and eating disorders among young women. Australian plus-sized model Robyn Lawley wrote that the thigh gap is “just another tool of manipulation that other people are trying to use to keep me from loving my body.”
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What people have done to achieve this new beauty ideal is ridiculous. Surgeries have been invented, and the amount of eating disorders and the involvement in thinspiration sites have increased. The possibility of a thigh gap is based on body type, pelvic type, and tendon length. There are four different types of pelvic structures, meaning, “You can have two women who have identical leg lengths, thigh circumferences, and body-fat percent and distribution, and the one who has the right combination of bony alignment at the pelvis and femoral neck will show a gap, whereas the other won’t.”
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In addition, longer tendons on your abductors will make achieving a thigh gap much easier than someone with shorter tendons. There are generally three types of body types: ectomorphs, endomorphs, and mesomorphs. Mesomorphs tend to have more muscle. Endomorphs tend to have more muscle and fat. Ectomorphs tend to be naturally thin. Really, a thigh gap is only attainable in a healthy way for ectomorphs. And, what do you know, the lowest percentage of body types in existence is ectomorphs, meaning that the majority of people are trying to achieve something that’s not natural for them.
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Healthy fitness goals are a good thing, but unreasonable fitness goals are destructive. I’m not saying that it’s bad to have a thigh gap. Some people will have them, and some people won’t. However, to ask ourselves as women to try to achieve something so irrational and meaningless in the long run of life is extremely unhealthy for our minds and bodies. Beyoncé doesn’t have a thigh gap; she’s the definition of beautiful. Marylin Monroe never had a thigh gap; she’s an icon. Close the gap, and love your body type. Self-worth is not based on whether or not your thighs kiss.