# A "Thigh Gap" for girls & women as an aspirational body shape -
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 28, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771 "2014-03-28T16:41:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/1 "2014-03-28T16:41:05Z")
Apparently there was a recent mania I missed completely. First I’ve heard of it, feel like I’ve been living in a cave. Apparently this is big deal and a hugely desirable thing to have.
I am curious as a “thigh gap” does not do anything for me re female attractiveness and I doubt it’s top of mind for most men when determining if a woman is attractive of not. I’m genuinely puzzled how this became a thing.
[This poster summarizes my puzzlement.](http://on-cherry-hill.tumblr.com/image/46174054170)
[There’s even instructions](http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-Thigh-Gap)
[Thigh Gap](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thigh_gap)
> [@](#):
>
> A thigh gap in women is a space between the inner thighs when standing upright with both knees touching.[1] Some women aspire to have a thigh gap because they believe it will increase their attractiveness, with some considering it a sign of femininity and fragility.[2] Some go as far as to say it symbolizes “the ideal body shape”.[3] Reportedly, some teenage girls have taken the view that the bigger the gap, the more beautiful the girl.[4] According to The Times of India, however, few women have this shape naturally[1] and some have resorted to extreme dieting[5] and even surgery[6] in order to try to obtain it.[7] Critics have worried that young women will develop an eating disorder by trying to obtain a body shape that is impossible for most women.[8]
> [@](#):
>
> The idea of the “thigh gap” received widespread news coverage in December 2012 after the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show[9] which featured many models with thin and highly toned bodies and who appeared to a have a thigh gap. As a result, hundreds of blogs, Twitter accounts and memes were created on the internet,[1] and images of thigh gaps featured in “thinspiration” blogs[10] and across social networking sites.[11] A Twitter account, Cara’s Thigh Gap, was started named after model Cara Delevingne who some felt exemplified the “thigh gap” body shape.[12][1]
>
> In 2013, author Camille Hugh published her book The Thigh Gap Hack: The Shortcut to Slimmer, Feminine Thighs Every Woman Secretly Desires[13] and in June 2013 she was interviewed about the book on The Dr Oz Show.[14] The book was criticized by Lisa Delaney of [Spryliving.com](http://Spryliving.com), who said “the bottom line is that the Thigh Gap Hack feeds girls’ and women’s obsessions with their bodies, promotes thinness at the expense of healthfulness (because of Hugh’s disdain of fitness, exercise, muscles, etc.), and promotes flaky, unproven methods for weight/fat loss.”.[13
---
### Author:  [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/2 "2014-03-28T16:48:34Z")
Aw, come on now, are you even trying to keep up? The Thigh Gap was so 2013. Now it’s all about the Bikini Bridge.
Or, heck, that’s probably already old news. I’m sure there is some other more recent trend that is not achievable by a regular healthy human being.
---
### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/3 "2014-03-28T16:50:45Z")
it is easier on the eyes…
---
### Author:  [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/4 "2014-03-28T17:00:29Z")
They are way behind the times.
When i was 13-14 I had a book on exercise and perfect legs were supposed to form 3 ‘diamonds’ when standing with legs together. One between the thighs, one below the knee and one below the calves.
That was a long time ago, real long time ago.
---
### Author:  [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/5 "2014-03-28T17:10:24Z")
> [@Sahirrnee](#):
>
> They are way behind the times.
> When i was 13-14 I had a book on exercise and perfect legs were supposed to form 3 ‘diamonds’ when standing with legs together. One between the thighs, one below the knee and one below the calves.
>
> That was a long time ago, real long time ago.
I also learned about the 3 diamonds as a young teenager. It’s definitely something that dieting young girls have aspired to for over 30 years. I don’t ever recall thinking about it in terms of attractiveness to men, just about being an ideal weight and body size.
---
### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/6 "2014-03-28T17:15:23Z")
“Thigh gap”? I thought this was was going to be about some kind of renewed Cold War competition.
“General We are behind in the all-important Thigh Gap category! We must increase fitness programs now, and enlist only the best!”
---
### Author:  [@Melchior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melchior)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/7 "2014-03-28T17:22:40Z")
I find it very appealing, yes.
---
### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/8 "2014-03-28T17:24:21Z")
I can say that I wanted this as a teenager, but mainly just because I hated having my thighs rub together when I was running. It chafed.
The whole three diamonds thing is brand new to me. I never thought it would particularly look better, and in fact I get a sort of “bowlegged” feel when I see it. I just wanted it anyway for the convenience factor.
---
### Author:  [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/9 "2014-03-28T17:25:04Z")
> [@johnpost](#):
>
> it is easier on the eyes…
If you’re getting it in your eyes, you’re doing it wrong.
Or are you…
---
### Author:  [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/10 "2014-03-28T17:33:42Z")
Apparently, this is only for women who are already stick figure thin…or it’s yet another artificial media sensation made up to make them still seem “relevant.” Either way, men really don’t care how far apart that women’s legs are when they are standing.
I was always under the impression that the leg spread distance while _ **reclining** _ was most straight men’s goal.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/11 "2014-03-28T17:36:24Z")
There was a girl in high school who had a thigh gap. I must confess that we did call her ‘The Gap’. (There was a clothing store called The Gap.) Apparently she was decades ahead of her time.
---
### Author:  [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/12 "2014-03-28T18:02:44Z")
Yesterday I saw a Lands’ End catalog sitting on my coworker’s desk, and the cover model had a huge gap photoshopped in between her legs. It looked ridiculous, especially since the convex shape at the top of the gap made her look like she had lost her labia in a tragic bicycling accident.
I just googled to see if I could find a picture of it online, and sho’nuff I found [Jezebel was already on the case](http://jezebel.com/lands-end-catalog-cover-photoshops-perfect-dorito-shap-1552800719). If the notoriously frumpy Lands’ End is doing this, what hope is there for the rest of us?
Part of the problem with this trend is that some women will never have a thigh gap no matter how thin they get. My best friend is about 5’7, and her upper thighs touched even when she had a brush with near-anorexia in her early 20s and got down to 105 lbs. She’s just built that way.
---
### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/13 "2014-03-28T18:19:45Z")
I like the thighs to not rub when walking or running. I like that on women too.
---
### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/14 "2014-03-28T18:23:38Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> There was a girl in high school who had a thigh gap. I must confess that we did call her ‘The Gap’. (There was a clothing store called The Gap.) Apparently she was decades ahead of her time.
I wonder how she explained that nickname to her parents. ‘why does everyone call you the gap’ ‘it is because of the giant gap between my legs’.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/15 "2014-03-28T18:25:48Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> I wonder how she explained that nickname to her parents. ‘why does everyone call you the gap’ ‘it is because of the giant gap between my legs’.
I don’t know if she knew it.
She was actually quite cute. And the jingle for the clothing store was ‘Fall into The Gap.’
---
### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/16 "2014-03-28T18:37:48Z")
I don’t care for it and never have - it looks somewhere between anorexic and malformed to me.
A woman’s thighs should diverge only slightly at the top and there should be basically no space in the “Y”. I think you’ll find that to be the standard throughout the history of art, including eras with relatively slender women as the ideal.
---
### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/17 "2014-03-28T18:42:23Z")
> [@Sunspace](#):
>
> “Thigh gap”? I thought this was was going to be about some kind of renewed Cold War competition.
>
> “General We are behind in the all-important Thigh Gap category! We must increase fitness programs now, and enlist only the best!”
It’s a conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
---
### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/18 "2014-03-28T18:50:01Z")
Curse you, Jones, I was just about to post that.
---
### Author:  [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/19 "2014-03-28T19:33:34Z")
I suppose it could be appealing if you like particularly skinny girls (see Victoria’s Secret models) with skinny legs. Makes me think of colt-like 11 year olds - cute and endearing, not sexy.
---
### Author:  [@ASanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASanders)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771/20 "2014-03-28T19:41:11Z")
My mother had this, but she was actually bowlegged. She was physically unable to stand with straight legs if her feet and knees were together.
It’s never represented beauty to me so much as a condition that results in lack of grace.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-thigh-gap-for-girls-women-as-an-aspirational-body-shape/684771.md?page=2)