Why the 'thigh gap' is bullshit...
‘The Gap’ has 713,521 likes on Facebook. If you’re not already following Cara Delevingne’s thigh gap on twitter, let me explain ‘the Gap’ phenomenon using the very scientific terminology on the Facebook group. The gap is ‘the ‘distance between a girl’s legs, directly below her pubis symphsis. (There is a slight distance decrease as the inner thigh usually bulges in, about 1-1.5" down from the perineum. This is natural in even the most perfect 18 year old specimens)’. I believe this description may have prompted you to ask yourself the following questions: do I have a gap? Should I have a gap? Am I less of a human being if I don’t have a gap? Does Gisele have one? And most importantly, am I a ‘perfect 18 year old specimen’? In my case, the answer to these questions were ‘no’, ‘unsure’, ‘I HOPE NOT’, ‘probably’ and ‘being 21, it’s pretty impossible for me to be counted a ‘perfect 18 year old specimen’’. So, I’ve concluded that I’m faced with two options: either lose so much weight that my breasts shrink to the size of pen lids and I’m forced to take iron supplements, or physically carve chunks out of my thighs whilst weeping about how repulsive and undesirable I am. Neither option is particularly inviting.
Ever since the interwar years and this thing called MASS CONSUMER CULTURE took off, we were all told that beauty supplements were a good idea (don’t cry though, consumerism also brought you your iPad). If I were you, I’d probably buy a gym membership to work on your ‘flanks’ and get rid of your bingo wings. Also, make sure you buy hair care products. And makeup. And fake tan. And anti-cellulite cream. And breast-firming lotion. But yeah, the scary thing about 'the gap' is, it’s pretty much unobtainable for the majority of women. In fact, quite sensitively, the gap Facebook group reassures us that: ‘Possessing a gap does not depend on the weight of the female, it is genetic. Slim or plus-size women can have the gap. It's a bit like having thin ankles or thick ankles.’ After reading this terrible news I immediately went out to buy a tape measure to find the circumference of my ankles. Not.
Unsurprisingly, the Daily Mail online did not hesitate in posting an article in which some bellend personal trainer called Matt Townsend instructs all of us despicable thigh-chaffing bitches to do SQUATS, the ‘SINGLE-LEG ROMANIAN DEADLIFT’, the ‘GLUTE BRIDGE WITH MEDICINE BALL BETWEEN KNEES’, the ‘LATERAL LUNGE’ and the ‘WALL SQUAT WITH MEDICINE BALL BETWEEN KNEES’ in order to obtain the apparently extremely desirable thigh-gap. Townsend claimed that: 'One of the most common questions I receive is how to get rid of inner thigh fat'. But apparently it isn’t just fitness trainers that are hounded about the thigh gap. Plastic surgeons are seeing a rise in the demand for thigh-specific cosmetic procedures. One British cosmetic clinic, LoveLite, told the Daily Mail that they've seen a TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY PERCENT rise in demand for procedures like lipoglaze, which freezes up fat cells so they die and disappear. Can we just consider for a second that aspiring to achieve a thigh-gap is about as realistic as trying to gain weight under your armpits? It’s POINTLESS, and anyone who is judging your personal worth on whether you have a thigh-gap is frankly an enormous fucking idiot. Personally, I couldn’t care less whether you have a thigh-gap or not and the majority of my (female and male) peers feel the same way.
(Disgraceful Daily Mail comments include: ‘i wish more women would follow the wonderful example set by these gorgeous ladies [Victoria’s Secret models]’ and ‘Anyone who disagrees that the thigh gap look isn't a good look is obviously a jealous, bored and fat house frau that would kill to look like these [Victoria’s Secret] models.’)
I’ve no doubt that many of you have trawled through Tumblr or Facebook, staring at the smooth brown arses of the thigh-gap elite, thinking back in horror to the time you put Vaseline in between your thighs on sports day that year, and feeling like an insignificant human being. I’ve got excellent news for you. You’re not! Just because the media tells us we’re all failing in life because we don’t have a gap between our thighs, it doesn’t mean we actually are! There is no naturally ‘perfect’ way to look. Think about it this way: the slim body images many of us aspire to are pretty different to those of our parents’ and grandparents’ generations, right? Marilyn Monroe didn’t have a thigh-gap. Twiggy was pretty skinny but do you reckon she went to the gym? Unfortunately, today women’s slim and muscular body ‘has become a public expression of success, achievement and androgyny’. Social scientists Rebekah Fox, Kristin Heffernan and Paula Nicolson claimed in a 2009 article that ‘many women do not want to admit that they are influenced by such media pressure, but secretly they put pressure upon themselves if they do not conform to societal ideals’.
In the 1980s, it was decided that the ideal female body was not only thin but also muscular and, in the last thirty years, there has been a substantial rise of participation in keep-fit classes, especially by women under 30. It is assumed today that if we GO AND BUY specialised gym equipment, GO AND BUY a gym membership, GO AND BUY a sports bra and a workout top and go to the gym four times a week we’ll all be getting closer to that ideal slim and muscular female body smiling at us patronisingly from the pages of Vogue. In 1977, walking and swimming were the most frequent forms of exercise among women, with ‘gymnastics, yoga and keep fit’ practised by only 2%. This figure rose to 12% in 1987, was at 17% by 1993 and by the mid-90s a third of women under 30, from non-manual occupations, ‘worked out’ regularly. The fitness market was worth £682m by 1996, £1.6bn in 2001 and now stands at a healthy £2.5bn. It is clear that while some of us might think contemporary representations of idealised bodies are ridiculous, we are not immune to them. And do you know what is even more horrible? Unfortunately, physical appearance is too often seen as a person's defining feature. Women in particular are regularly judged by their appearance, as opposed to their intellectual capacity, sense of humour or virtues. ‘Failure to conform to narrowly prescribed beauty ideas has become not merely aesthetically disagreeable but morally deficient.’
Although admittedly it’s not their fault, at the moment Victoria’s Secret models quite expertly represent the ideal ‘slim and muscular’ female body. They must have thought they had hit the jackpot when it became clear that the ‘bow-legged, prepubescent’ look was all the rage now. Unfortunately though, not all women are naturally tall with ‘good’ breasts and ridiculously long legs. Nor does every woman fancy going to pilates, ‘pump and tone’ or ‘step’ or whatever every other day of the week. These models give women an unrealistic image to aspire to. Also, not only are these kinds of preposterous beauty ideals making women feel like dog turd, they are also fairly condescending to men who, we’re led to believe, find a gap near our vaginas arousing. That is, they find a space arousing. Ultimately they find NOTHING arousing.
Still yearning for a thigh-gap? Pay a visit to http://fuckyeahthighgap.tumblr.com and take note of how the girls posting photos of themselves are clearly starving and emaciated. I had a scroll through the images whilst eating pizza, and I didn’t feel guilty. In order to scare you a little bit more, I’m going to talk a bit about eating disorders, which occur mainly among teenagers and young women. Anorexia was extremely rare and bulimia was virtually unknown before the 1970s. Yeah I know. Like, those diseases were pretty much invented by preposterous and unrealistic beauty ideals. While treatment appears to be relatively successful for anorexia, psychological and physical health problems can frequently persist and between 5 and 10% of diagnosed cases are fatal (some of those are suicides).
Lena Dunham, the creator and star of the HBO series Girls, was named Time Magazine's coolest person of the year in 2012. She also appeared naked during an opening skit at the Emmy Awards, eating birthday cake while sitting on a toilet. Lena sparked controversy when she appeared to wear no trousers to an event last year and faced harsh comments from bloggers about her dimpled thighs. Lena said: “Last week I wore something to an event...a big top and little shorts, and a bunch of [blog posts] came out that I had been out without pants [trousers]”. She continued, "I don't think a girl with tiny thighs would have received so much no-pants attention… Get used to it. I'm going to live until 105 and I'm going to show my thighs every day." Let her words be an inspiration to us all. I invite women and men alike to join together to give the gap a resounding ‘fuck off’.