The proliferation of photo-sharing sites like Pinterest, along with the concept of ‘thinspiration’ has caused mass hysteria as women across the world attempt to get as skinny as possible – and maybe one day achieving the infamous “thigh gap”.
But thigh gaps are bad for you, obviously. The whole “thinspiration” idea is spreading the misguided belief that the ‘gap’ is somehow a universally achievable goal for women – that it is a marker of a certain degree of sexiness. The fact of the matter, however, is that one can be skinny without having a thigh gap. Genetic variation means that every person’s body is different, with different versions of “skinniness”. In most cases though, you’d have to starve yourself beyond healthy limits in order to achieve a thigh-gap. It’s just silly.
“I want the thigh gap. Right now, I could start a fire b/t my thighs,” one user laments on Pinterest. “No goal was ever achieved without thigh gap.”
Robyn Lawley, a model, claims that she once found a photo of herself online, in one of those thinspirational posts. However, because she wasn’t rakishly thin, she was trolled – despite her apparent ‘thigh gap’.
Lawley was apparently told she was too “hefty” to be featured. The word “PIG” featured a lot, but she couldn’t be bothered.
I want my thighs to be bigger and stronger. I want to run faster and swim longer. I suppose we all just want different things, but women have enough pressure as it is without the added burden of achieving a “thigh gap.” The last thing I would want for my future daughter would be to starve herself because she thought a “thigh gap” was necessary to be deemed attractive.
[Source : The Daily Beast]
