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US teens' dangerous obsession with 'thigh gap'

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...Uw?docId=97eebf6b-1f4d-4509-9ce3-5162bb8c4970

It's the latest weight loss craze among American teens striving to emulate the models they see in magazines: the "thigh gap", in which slender legs, when standing with feet together, do not touch.

Experts say the cost of what teens see as an ideal body shape -- but really is for most unattainable -- is self-esteem problems that can lead to eating disorders, depression and even suicide.

On Tumblr, Pinterest and Facebook, "thigh gap" photos abound: close-ups of sometimes unbearably skinny legs published by young girls eager to show off their success -- or bemoan what they see as a failure to whittle away fat.

"My thigh gap is huge," brags a Tumblr user with the handle foster-the-beatles.

Another user, skinnysizezero, cheers her fellow dieters on, saying: "Together we can lose weight. Together we can be skinny."

"Together we can be a size zero with a beautiful thigh gap and flat stomach. Together we can be happy and finally say that we love our bodies," her post pledges.

Another poster, elleskyyy, said she felt better when she "realized I'm getting a thigh gap."

Meanwhile, a user called "starving for perfection" complained about her "mediocre/nonexistent thigh gap" and flagellated herself for her "fatfatfatfat."

Experts say the obsession with leg shape is not new, but has been dramatically amplified by social media websites and their 24/7 influence on the lives of American teens.

The fan Twitter account Cara's Thigh Gap, is dedicated to the extreme slenderness of British model Cara Delevingne, while dozens of Facebook pages and websites propose diets and exercise regimes to achieve the almighty gap.

But clinical psychologist Barbara Greenberg warned that for most women, the "thigh gap" is a pipe dream, even via extreme dieting and exercise.

"Most women are not built that way to have that space between their thighs," she said.

"It is a matter of bone structure," she explained, which "the majority of women do not have."

For teenagers, adopting what Greenberg called an "unrealistic obsession" can be dangerous -- increasing pressures that can lead to depression, even suicidal behavior, as well as to severe eating disorders, which can cause lasting brain and bone damage.

Indeed, starvation diets -- and self-loathing -- are a common theme on the "thigh gap" pages of young girls.

"Yesterday i had 380 calories but then i ate candys so much that my calorie number switch to ca. 650?. faaaaaaaaaaaaaat," writes Anastasia, a young German girl, on Tumblr, who prays: "Please God let me be skinny."

The World Health Organization recommends a daily intake of around 2,500 calories to support the energy needs of a growing teenage girl.

'Thin ideal' spread in media

Shannon Snapp, a sociologist at the University of Arizona, blames magazines, movies and television for spreading the "thin ideal," and urges consumers to stop buying into it.

"That message is internalized by young women and girls: if you want to be successful, if you want to be liked, this is the way you should look," Snapp said -- "thin everywhere except for their breasts."

"Teenage girls are probably the most likely to be feeling the pressure to look that particular way, because they are going through puberty: for the first time, they are compared to adult women," she added.

Likewise, San Jose State University sociologist Natalie Boero said the skinny-obsessed "are looking for social acceptance and to fit in."

"Young women are aware that in a sexist and sizeist culture, their bodies are their currency, and they are looking to increase their perceived social value," she added.

That's not how the teenagers themselves always see it, however.

One girl, "mannddda," declares on Tumblr: "I hate when people tell me I'm dumb for wanting a thigh gap and to be skinny. It's not for anyone else but ME. I wanna look in the mirror and be happy for MYSELF & NO ONE ELSE."

But sociologists say there is an unmistakable trend linking body size with social status.

Abigail Saguy, a body image expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, told AFP: "Attaining thinness is a way of signaling elite social status."

But, worse than that, "fatness not only connotates low social status, but it may predict low social status."

"Studies show that heavier girls and women are less likely to get hired and when they are hired, they are paid less," Saguy said, adding that larger women are also less likely to marry.

However, a counter-movement against the "thigh gap" is building, with girls also taking to social media to mock the obsession.

One YouTube video, "5 Ways to Fake a Thigh Gap," posted by "tadelesmith," suggests, for example, that girls who want a gap between their thighs should move their legs apart.

And on Twitter, Common White Girl declares herself relieved that her thighs touch, saying: "Not having a thigh gap saved my phone from falling in the toilet."
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Of all the parts of the female body that can be sexy and made so the thigh gap is one of the least important.
 
Don't exactly know how many guys look at a girl and say "Damn look at dat thigh gap!" or how many people in general say "Wow, I'm so jealous of your thigh gap."
 
Look at what you've done miley!

50-cent-mileys-ass-gif.gif
 
Shannon Snapp, a sociologist at the University of Arizona, blames magazines, movies and television for spreading the "thin ideal," and urges consumers to stop buying into it.

"That message is internalized by young women and girls: if you want to be successful, if you want to be liked, this is the way you should look," Snapp said --
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Makes no sense to me. Especially what your definition of "success" is.

Just a token example, own a house and a job, you need to be thin as a pencil, what?

But I do agree consumers should stop buying it but why are they in the first place? Sounds like a worthless endeavor that just happens to be tolerated.
 
Floex said:
Is there an an example of this? I've read the OP and still none the wiser of exactly what this is.
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tumblr_static_thigh-gap-01.jpg


While feet are directly touching in a parallel position there will be a space or gap in between the inner thighs. It's cool if you're naturally built like that, but I think you a may be a bit 'touched' if you're working towards it.
 
JordanN said:
Makes no sense to me. Especially what your definition of "success" is.

Just a token example, own a house and a job, you need to be thin as a pencil, what?

But I do agree consumers should stop buying it but why are they in the first place?
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Women are told that in order to be successful they need to be pretty. I mean, look at how some people on GAF talk about women who are successful in other areas and dismiss them because they aren't traditionally attractive.
 
lenovox1 said:
tumblr_static_thigh-gap-01.jpg


While feet are directly touching in a parallel position there will be a space or gap in between the inner thighs. It's cool if you're naturally built like that, but I think you a may be a bit 'touched' if you're working towards it.
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This is some of the dumbest shit I've read on the internet. Not your post but the ideals behind it, why are girls thinking this?! The human population has dun goofed along the way to this point.
 
Mileena said:
why do girls think toothpick legs > thick sexy juicy legs? come on :(
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Hollywood.

Just look at all the shit actresses get who are not rail thin skinny. Hell, we had a thread about Jennifer Lawrence being told she needed to diet and she's at a pretty healthy (and what I would consider skinny) weight.

Floex said:
This is some of the dumbest shit I've read on the internet. Not your post but the ideals behind it, why are girls thinking this?! The human population has dun goofed along the way to this point.
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I agree. They goofed when they treated women like objects whose most important feature was their looks and made it seem like there was only one type of beauty.
 
The thigh gap is only sexy when the hole is small enough that the inner thighs touch each other. Just having a gap between your legs isn't the same ladies.
 
Pau said:
Women are told that in order to be successful they need to be pretty. I mean, look at how some people on GAF talk about women who are successful in other areas and dismiss them because they aren't traditionally attractive.
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Well I'm going to need examples because this sounds like a bizarre and foreign concept.

Like, I know the media has a weird obsession with girls looking like skeletons. That part is true. But actually having to live your life like that to be successful I don't get it. Or understand why [women] would even believe that.
 
So basically this is like obsessing about a double chin when you really should be looking at total body fat %...but additionally there's a genetic fat distribution element to it.

I just checked in the mirror and I have a bit of gap, and I'm a guy. Take that internet tweens!
 
Kinyou said:
I remember it from this thread

feafaei7j2v.jpg



It looks rather odd to be honest
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Oh, that's what it is? That's kind of odd.

Very few women have that kind of build. More likely the ass has been worked on judging by how thin her upper body is.
 
I'm aware of what the thigh-gap is but I've only heard one lady friend talk about it in real life. She's a very pretty girl, athletically built (swimmer), and constantly pursuing the "thigh-gap."

I don't say anything about it to her when she talks about it. It's her choice, not mine. For the girls it happens naturally to, it looks ok I guess but there are far more attractive things about a person.
 
Pau said:
Hollywood.

Just look at all the shit actresses get who are not rail thin skinny. Hell, we had a thread about Jennifer Lawrence being told she needed to diet and she's at a pretty healthy (and what I would consider skinny) weight.


I agree. They goofed when they treated women like objects whose most important feature was their looks and made it seem like there was only one type of beauty.
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This shit just blows my goddamn mind. I Wear glasses and I cant see very well without them, but I'm not Mr fucking Magoo, people have to have been born in some sort of bizarre bizarro world to call that woman anything close to fat.
 
JordanN said:
Well I'm going to need examples because this sounds like a bizarre and foreign concept.

Like, I know the media has a weird obsession with girls looking like skeletons. That part is true. But actually having to live your life like that to be successful I don't get it. Or understand why [women] would even believe that.
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I don't remember examples of posts at the top of my head.

In my personal experience, my mum has definitely made it clear to me that I would be an unsuccessful woman because of my looks to the point where she told me if I didn't get plastic surgery I was an idiot. So yes, a lot of us are conditioned to believe that looks are the most important thing.

This phenomenon is also pretty apparent in places like South Korea or Colombia where women take out fucking loans to get plastic surgery because they feel that they can't get hired otherwise.
 
Konka said:
Kids are dumb.
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Stop.

Kids didn't pull this shit out of thin air.

Our society force-feeds them the thought that they need to have a thigh gap or be a size 0 in order to be seen as beautiful or to be popular. They do not need to be called stupid or dumb. Instead, those insults and frustration, should be directed at ad agencies and companies that peddle this bullshit by the ton.
 
Actually all my favorite models have nice thigh gaps.

I might be part of the problem, but I fucking love thigh gaps.
 
Pau said:
Guess I'm disgusting. I love when these threads shit on people's body types and don't get the irony.
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Ok, let me rephrase, women that do awful things to their body to gain a gap in their thighs are disgusting.

Personally the gap looks super odd to me, and I'm not sure why any woman would purposefully try to get a weird looking gap in between their thighs.
 
I feel like this is one of those topics where the majority of GAF expects people that find this appealing to also approve of whatever negative health effect there is to trying to get it.
 
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