# Thigh gaps **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 23, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179 "2015-12-23T15:18:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/21 "2015-12-23T18:22:53Z")
Needs to be in the Pit, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/22 "2015-12-23T18:37:25Z")
I find it incomprehensible that anyone would even care. Even granted that some men think of women as a collection of body parts they want to look at instead of an actual human being, this is a completely arbitrary standard created no more than a couple of years ago. Are people so mindless that the immediately accept something like this as an actual standard? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/23 "2015-12-23T19:02:33Z")
**Moderator Action** > [@Chefguy](#): > > Needs to be in the Pit, IMHO. Let’s try IMHO instead. Feel free to start a Pit thread about it though, if you want. Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/24 "2015-12-23T19:44:18Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Women are supposed to have a certain level of body fat; today’s anorexia-obsessed culture has apparently decided that this is an indicator of sex appeal, when in fact it is obviously the opposite. (There’s the old joke that many sex symbols, like Marilyn Monroe, were several sizes to big to meet today’s “standards”). > > To get totally sexist, the appeal of women to men, evolutionarily speaking, is that they have the hips and body fat to support child-bearing. Women who are too thin likely do not appeal to a significant number of men, including myself and OP. I’ve heard this said over and over, but is there any proof that being thin makes you less fertile/less likely to successfully have babies? It all just seems a little like an evolutionary just-so tale after a while, but with no actual meaning attached to it. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/25 "2015-12-23T19:47:24Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > You know what? Some women are skinny and have the metabolism of squirrels. They can’t help it any more that large boned women who are well muscled and have slower metabolisms. > > You’re allowed to like or dislike any body type, to each there own. But can we all just accept that women come in freaking different damn shapes. And not hold one as an ideal or any to be condemned. > > I have a thigh gap and always have. Because I’m a skinny girl. I didn’t ask to be and its not the measure of who I am. It’s not something to be sought after any more than its something to be condemned for. > > So piss off! Well said! > [@Ornery\_Bob](#): > > My experience is the same as many generals - “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” > > I don’t care what you like or don’t like about women, when meet one you click with and the chemistry’s working, nothing else matters. > > Personally, I say forget your “preferences” - they’re for adolescents. Be a man and look in her heart, not her thighs. Also well said. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/26 "2015-12-23T19:53:44Z")
> [@Ornery\_Bob](#): > > My experience is the same as many generals - “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” > > I don’t care what you like or don’t like about women, when meet one you click with and the chemistry’s working, nothing else matters. > > Personally, I say forget your “preferences” - they’re for adolescents. Be a man and look in her heart, not her thighs. **Ornery Bob** for the win! ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/27 "2015-12-23T19:54:18Z")
> [@brainstall](#): > > Personally, I really like men with small ears. Oh yeah, and freckled shoulders make me weak in the knees. But back to the ears… men with big ears should do something about that. You know what big ears mean? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/28 "2015-12-23T19:55:38Z")
What about guys who like their women thick? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/29 "2015-12-23T20:15:31Z")
Allan does by definition. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/30 "2015-12-23T20:34:24Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > You know what big ears mean? That he’s a Ferengi? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/31 "2015-12-23T20:34:43Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I’ve heard this said over and over, but is there any proof that being thin makes you less fertile/less likely to successfully have babies? You have to have a minimum percentage of body fat to menstruate, which kind of helps in having a baby the old-fashioned way. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/32 "2015-12-23T20:43:55Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > You know what big ears mean? No, but you could ask Noddy. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/33 "2015-12-23T20:47:29Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > You know what big ears mean? _Damn_ good hearing. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/34 "2015-12-23T21:06:35Z")
Assuming the OP is serious, I find it hard to believe that \*he \*believes there exists a “very very large majority of men who hate thigh gaps”. Sorry, but that just flies in the face of what is and has been the “ideal” for women’s bodies for many years now. Sure, he might dislike thigh gaps (that has a somewhat oogy sound to me) but I just won’t believe for a minute that he’s in the majority. I also find it hard to believe a man who says he’s never heard of noticed them either, but that at least _sounds_ more plausible. Also, I agree with everything \*\*elbows \*\*said with one caveat; there is a vast difference between the ridicule faced by the overweight than the underweight (females that is). It’s shitty and wrong to judge anyone based on their looks, but I don’t think these to groups have it exactly the same. Fat people truly do get condemned. Buy yeah, shallow, judgmental people are cordially invited to piss off. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/35 "2015-12-23T21:42:20Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > You have to have a minimum percentage of body fat to menstruate, which kind of helps in having a baby the old-fashioned way. Sure, but a minimum percentage of body fat still includes thin women. That still encompasses an enormous range of women. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/36 "2015-12-23T22:10:04Z")
The size of the gap does not matter. It’s what’s inside that counts. Preferably me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/37 "2015-12-23T22:43:21Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I’ve heard this said over and over, but is there any proof that being thin makes you less fertile/less likely to successfully have babies? It all just seems a little like an evolutionary just-so tale after a while, but with no actual meaning attached to it. Other than the answer about menstruation: First, women have wider hips than men to allow the baby to pass through. In some ways, this is confusing fat with bone structure, but it’s still the case that a woman who is thin thanks to narrow hips may have more trouble delivering. Second, it’s relatively rare that humans can count on reliable nutrition during pregnancy. Only in parts of the modern world can we take 2000 calories of nutritious food for granted. Once upon a time, if Og wasn’t able to kill a mammoth, a little extra body fat was the difference between baby surviving or not. That’s true even after the birth when the baby relies on milk. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/38 "2015-12-23T22:43:52Z")
Could someone please tell me what the devil a “thigh gap” is? An article of clothing? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/39 "2015-12-23T22:49:08Z")
I was going to see if Jennifer Lawrence has a thigh gap. Then I realized: the point _is_ that I don’t know if Jennifer Lawrence has a thigh gap. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179/40 "2015-12-23T22:49:42Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Could someone please tell me what the devil a “thigh gap” is? An article of clothing? It means that you can stand upright without your thighs touching. You can Google in a safe-for-work sense. You might get lots of pictures of swimsuits and underwear, but it shouldn’t be pornographic. Some people define it very narrowly to mean that your knees are touching, but your thighs are not touching at any point. Other people seem to take a broader definition that some part of the thighs not touching is still called a thigh gap. Again, it has a lot to do with bone structure and propositions, not just body fat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thigh-gaps/741179.md?page=3)