What are thigh gaps and why you probably aren’t going to get one from weight loss
If you have been apart of tumblr for long enough or have wanted to lose weight at some point while on tumblr you’d notice a lot of blogs in the “thinspiration” community have a desire for thigh gaps.
What is a thigh gap you may ask? Essentially it’s a gap between a persons thighs, preferably desired by women.
Why do people want one?
No idea
Chances are if you are trying to get one by losing weight for whatever reason then you may not be able to get it.
“BUT WHY?!” you may cry. Very simple, my dear person. It’s all about your skeleton.
You cannot change the structure of your skeleton very easily (and it would be painful if you could. For example: child birth)
Some people are naturally able to have a thigh gap at a certain size, but that doesn’t automatically mean that you have to very thin. People who are at different sizes can have them but can every fit/thin person have one? No
Fact of the matter is that you probably won’t get one and it’s not a big deal. You don’t die if you don’t have one, and no one really cares about them as much as you do persons-who-want-a-thigh-gap-who-is-reading-this. Well, unless you’re this guy
There are two main reasons for why you probably won’t get one even if you lose weight.
One reason why you won’t get one is because of your hips. If you have narrow hips it’ll be a bit harder to obtain. Here are some examples
You can’t really change your genetics or bone structure…so…
Although, some of you might be thinking “fuck yeah! I have wide hips I’m going to get a thigh gap!!”
Sorry but that also might not be the case. The second reason for why you probably won’t get one is because of your legs. Let me explain a bit.
This is what the leg bones look like when you’re standing
So because your femurs are going in-ward like the image above it would be difficult to obtain a thigh gap even if you have wide hips. Also considering that you also have muscle, skin, fat, veins, around your bones to make, well, legs. It would be hard to achieve it. You need these things to you know, move.
Also remember that people on tumblr stick out their butts, straighten their legs, bending forward with their heels apart, or stand with their feet wider apart for the illusion for a thigh gap in these photos. So really, if they can’t have one naturally what’s the chances of you having one? Here is a great example
If you’re worried about chafing then a quick google search will show you that there are ways to remedy one without achieving a thigh gap. Remember that sometimes every-ones skin is different as well. Some are more or less sensitive than others. So having a thigh gap isn’t an automatic answer to not have any chafing. Many people in my life don’t have thigh gaps and they have no issues with rashes or chafing.
If you’re still wanting a thigh gap despite of what I said you can get one easily by standing like peter pan and walk like that for the rest of your life.
Which goes to show that a thigh gap can be very relative of how you stand.
If you’re still wanting a thigh gap because you see models and other girls in the media having one just remember that the super thin body type portrayed by women in the media only effects 5% of the population. The standards are only getting tighter since 20 years ago models weighed 8% less than a healthy weight and now it’s 23% less than a healthy weight.
Why throw away your health to try and obtain something that most people don’t naturally have? You’re in trouble if you’re going to forgo your health for the sake of something that isn’t obtainable by most human standards.
I really couldn’t agree with this more it kills me to look throughout tumblr and find so many girls putting their health on the line for things that are both determined via genetics and bone structure. Daily I see girls who are smaller than me in both size and shape post photos of themselves saying they need to lose weight to attain a thigh gap, to get rid of their ‘hip dip’ and get rid of their lower back dimples. When I first started seeing all of these phrases being used I actually had to google what they were. I had no idea and honestly I scoffed and was incredibly repulsed by what I discovered. The Internet was quick to inform me that all these things were problem areas for women that could be corrected with weight loss. I’d like to take a moment to point out to all those people who have ever messaged me, liked one of my photos or commented saying they wished they had my body or were as skinny as me that firstly, I have what’s called a hip dip and I can assure you that there is no excess fat on my hips I always assumed that the reason I had one was because of A: my bone structure, B: my lack of ass and C: being thin. I have those two little dimples on my lower back too and unless I arch my back when I’m standing or stand with my feet apart I don’t have a thigh gap.
I have a small waist, long scrawny arms, short legs, strangly shaped knees, larger breasts, thighs and calves in proportion to the rest of my body and no ass. I have hip dips, lower back dimples and unless I stand a certain way no thigh gap because this is the way my body is, this is the way genetics have created me, this is my bone structure and they have made me entirely individual, entirely unique and this body is entirely my own. I am proud of it even if I have my days where I hate it. I love it because it is what it is, it is the way I was intended to be, it does what it’s meant to do and it’ll be with me for the rest of my life.
I see so many people strive to be different and quirky while slowly destroying the one and only body they’ll ever have trying to obtain the ‘perfect body image’. Everyone is different, your bone structure and genetics will determine the way you look and what your body can achieve. Work with what you’ve got and people will start saying they’d kill to have it but really the most important thing is to be happy, healthy and to strive to love yourself and what you’ve been given why waste the best years of your life hating yourself? Let it go.
Look in the mirror and smile with the knowledge that there is no one else out there that looks exactly the same as you do beneath your clothes. You are unique. You are one of a kind, you don’t look like everybody else and that, my love, makes you the most beautiful thing in the world.
(via timeanustestified)