The hashtag #StopThighGap has started appearing on Twitter and Instagram feeds all over the world.
So, like thousands of other curious browsers, I started researching thigh gaps. I wanted to know what it was about them that was so offensive before I started campaigning against them.
I discovered, via the ever-reliable Wikipedia, that thigh gap is “a gap between the thighs, when standing with the back upright and the left and right knees touching each other”.
I also learnt that this is a phenomenon that seems to be highly dependent on three factors: genetics, muscle tone and width of hips. Simply speaking, if you are narrow-hipped, your muscles are toned and your mum and sisters don’t have a thigh gap, the chances of you having one are negligible. Which, in turn, should affect your self-esteem, because the thigh gap thing seems to be the latest in the long list of ridiculous body proportions women are aiming for.
But wait. The latest is not “thigh gap”, but “bikini bridge”, which is the space created by a woman’s hip bones, suspending bikini bottoms from her abdomen.
The two are disturbingly put forth on social media for “thinspiration”, a word that seems harmless but is strongly associated with disordered eating and the “pro-ana” (pro-anorexia) movement.
I remember simpler times when “muffin top” (where your middle spills over the waistband of your trousers or skirt) was the extent of this vocabulary.
I also remember a time when it was OK to not want a muffin top. You could actually stop eating carbs for a week without having someone run at you with a cattle prod, trying to brand you with the hashtag #LetMuffinTopsLive.
The disturbing new trend these days is not just body-shaming big girls for being big, but shaming thin girls for being thin. In our quest to not hurt the feelings of big girls, we seem to have forgotten that thin girls have feelings, too. Why is it so insensitive to tell an overweight girl to lose weight, whereas it’s totally fine to admonish a thin girl for being – or wanting to be – thin? If “thinspiration” is tactless in the face of big girls, what about the whole “real women have curves” deal when it comes to the skinny girls?
Initiatives such as #StopThighGap don’t take into account the sensitivities of people who are naturally of a certain body shape.
For a change, how about we educate people about the difference between healthy choices and detrimental obsessions? And instead of promoting a certain body shape, promote the “natural shape” that comes with a healthy body, regardless of what it is: thin or not-so-thin, thigh gap or no thigh gap.
The writer is an honest-to-goodness desi living in Dubai