Why Thigh Gap Is A Ridiculous Trend And Unlikely For Most Girls To Achieve

[Anonymous]

OK so here's the thing.. A lot of girls desire thigh gap and have a really hard time trying to get it when trying to was pointless in the first place and it's disgusting... Not the thigh gap itself but the fact that all of these girls think it's the only way to have attractive legs or get a guy to like them..

OK for those of you who are blissfully unaware... So probably nobody...

A thigh gap is the space between your thighs when your feet are touching. And for some reason girls are aspiring to get this thigh gap. . and it's honestly a little unsettling to me.

OK. So women have 3 main body types.. You could be completely one or a mix of two (in between) as shown below.

I'm not talking body shape but more so the amount of flesh on your body.

Ectomorphs — naturally thin, lithe types who have a difficult time putting on muscle or fat — are the only ones of us who may feasibly be prone to gappiness, and they make up a very small percentage of the population.

Mesomorphs, with their propensity toward muscularity, and endomorphs, who naturally tend to carry greater amounts of muscle and fat, are likely pursuing a goal they don’t have much hope at achieving — at least not without great insult to their own physiology.

So if you're mesomorph, or endomorph or somewhere between. the likelihood of obtaining the somehow desirable thigh gap is near impossible.

And that's not the only thing that plays a part.

The bone structure, and the shape of a girls pelvis and hips play a big part in this little non-issue.

The width and depth of the sockets in your pelvis, and the angle that your femurs protrude from them determines a lot of things including your flexibility, such as the ability to do squats, the splits, and even touch your toes.

The other thing that this determines is whether you will have a thigh gap weighing in at 200 pounds, or whether you have little to no gap at 95 pounds.

So the fact remains.

Thigh gap is a ridiculous social standard and girls need to stop starving themselves, and trying to exercise with no energy because it's not obtainable by a majority of the population and why would a girl want to be anything but what she is.

You're all beautiful in your own way and the many shapes and sizes you come in are what make you unique.

Why would you want it any other way?

[redeyemindtricks]

Ok y'all.

Thigh gap is a manifestation of a wide hip angle. Specifically, a wide "quadriceps angle" (Q angle). This would be 0º if the shin and thigh bones were in a perfect straight line. The more off-vertical the thigh bone, the bigger (wider) the angle.

Q angle is genetically determined. It's been a "thing" since antiquity -- and understandably so, since wider set hips are associated with safer childbirth (and higher levels of fertility-related hormones, but the ancients didn't know that part). if you look at stone statues of ancient fertility goddesses, they have insanely wide Q angles.

The only thing new about "thigh gap" is that it's the combination of wide Q-angle and youthful bodyfat distribution. Basically, thigh gap means you are a skinny young woman with genetically wide hips.

Okay.

Now, on to the fun part.

If yr hips are wide enough to give you a thigh gap, then you can't really stand up straight, or walk, or run, without misaligning yr knees. It's like having an invisible hand shoving outward on both thighs and both calves, from the inside out. Ouch!

Eventually, this can lead to the following:
1) patellofemoral sydrome (yr kneecap stops tracking correctly between yr shin and thigh, and can get stuck in awkward positions under stress)
2) arthritis in the outer knees and/or meniscus tears, from all that extra friction inside the angle
3) "knock knees" (genu valgum), where your knees start to look like sideways elbows.

If you are an athlete and have this kind of build, the risk is especially severe, because of the stresses along this angle:
bretcontreras.com/wp-content/uploads/Capture32.jpg

Most coaches of girls'/women's sports know exactly jack shit about these issues, too -- even at elite levels. Blaaa.

If you have thigh gap / wide hip angle, go see a physical therapist, NOW, and get on a program of inner-knee-strengthening exercises. Seriously, go, NOW. Being able to walk without arthritis at 40 is a good thing, girls.

If you have thigh gap AND flat feet, this is especially urgent. If you don't start "pre-hab" NOW, you can destroy yr knees by yr mid 30's.

Also, high heels exaggerate Q-angle problems. If you have a significant thigh gap, you should avoid wearing them altogether. Can't win 'em all.

(If you are like me -- with the hips of a 14-year-old boy and exaggerated foot arches -- then, believe it or not, wearing heels can actually take stress OFF yr knees.)

[TheINTJ]

Ahh. Now this is the info I wanted know. I've been wondering for a while now how I got big quads and muscular knees for someone who's never really tried to work them out before. I knew I must be carrying my weight differently to develop muscles there but didn't think that it had to do my Q angle or that Q angles even existed. X) Anyway, thanks for sharing.

[redeyemindtricks]

@TheINTJ Yr welcome. (:

[Smmyskittles]

You're my new role model. <3

[redeyemindtricks]

@Smmyskittles Hah thanks babe <3

[benthurber]

If you're looking to be as skinny as you possibly can be while being healthy, first you need develop good metabolic conditioning (think CrossFit.) Go until your body composition seems to have found your balance. Continue the exercise routine, but modify your diet:

-Change your diet to strict paleo (try not to stab anyone when you have carb withdraws)
-By this point, you should still be eating more than enough to sustain yourself. You'll want to learn portion control by using the "Zone Diet" principles.
-Once you settle into that, remove starches and cut back on fruits, eat more fats to make up the calorie deficit.
-To go even leaner, start eating more proteins (meat.) Your body will produce more of the hormone Glucagon which has the adverse effect of your body "feasting" on your muscles.

[mikemx55]

Do we value the air we breathe? Not much, you know why? Because it's everywhere. Do we value gold and diamonds? Yes Why? Because it's really rare.
Now, something is not valuable just because it's rare or because it took a lot of effort to make. (I could give you examples on that...) But in this particular subject, it is both rare, and is also attractive, so overall it is a nice thing to watch.

And so are a thousand other perks that girls have. They don't be put down just because they don't have this one. People have fetishes for all kinds of things. If they don't have that and think they could never achieve, then they can focus on some other perk that I'm sure all women have.

From the point that everybody has it, it's not so attractive anymore you know? Even if it is, it's not valued. Don't focus on the mass publicity. Everybody knows that they sell dreams. It doesn't matter if someone is a dream girl, what matters is reality, you know why? Because it's real! and reality beats any dream.

Wanna focus on some downsides of having that? Being so thin can make crooked hips or knees a much more unwanted visible feature than they'd like. REMEMBER: you only see the good side of it on the mass medias, you don't see the downsides, because that is not what they want to sell.

To end this, I find that attractive up to some extent. But you know what I also find attractive? A million other things that can't all co-exist with a thigh gap. It's not a beauty standard, it's just fun to see, like another million things are.

[myTake Owner]

I don't see what's so fun about girls giving themselves medical issues because they think that they're fat unless they have the thing.

[mikemx55]

Hmm.. I don't think the problem here is that one. There are many things that people like, yet it's up to everyone's judgement to follow it or not. You can't blame me for the people that submit themselves to body changes just because I like or not a specific thing. It's not like I'm asking anybody to change, and I don't exactly control the things that I like or not.
Like I said in my answer, there's about another million unique ways that a girl can be unique and many of them don't co-exist with a gap. It's up to their beliefs, judgement and education to follow or not what THEY consider a trend.

[Hope96]

I am SO GLAD that you wrote this MyTake without putting those girls down who do have thigh gaps. I am naturally petite, and I find it hard to gain much skin and the thigh gap never goes away. These days, in order to spread health and fitness awareness, and encouraging curvy bodies, people have started putting down skinny people. It's so wrong that to encourage one type of body, you are making those girls feel self-conscious who are naturally skinny and have thigh gaps. So, THANK YOU for writing this MyTake in such an unbiased manner.

[myTake Owner]

You're welcome

[fauchelevent]

I'm pretty sure I'm endomorphic (damn these huge ass hips and thighs :P ) so when I heard about the thigh gap thing, I looked down and was like '... welp, that ain't happening'. Plus, having my big thighs means I can provide a better pillow for the boyfriend's head or I can catch things I drop rather than have them hit the floor. There are many advantages to not having a thigh gap, we just have to look for them :P

[myTake Owner]

Nothing wrong with that and I definitely agree with the pillow thing :3

[Lisa_Zhang]

Most girls do have thigh gap, I have one and most of my friends do, but if you look at women over 25 / 30 some have gotten out of shape, lost that sleek well defined body or care, and their gap is vanished, its associated with youth, and this is why its popular, like good skin or hair or teeth

also in many cultures its now the norm to be very overweight, and this is why its such a debated topic, but the reality from a medical perspective is that virtually every single women on earth has a thigh gap, and had one when they were younger and in better shape, they do have the bone structure of a thigh gap, but they are office workers or don't exercise or have too much mussel from a heavy diet and soda or milk based drinks.

[LiveFreeorDieHard]

Want to know something really funny, its proven that having a thigh gap means you have a loose vagina because the pelvis is spread far apart lol. So all these girls are wishing for loose vaginas lol, this will be the end of mankind. :)

[myTake Owner]

Pretty sure that would be a disappointing life for all involved

[TheINTJ]

"Proven"...

Yeah, right. X)

[LiveFreeorDieHard]

@TheINTJ lmfao. I've checked myself.

[TheINTJ]

Oh, so you must know you’re mistaken then! If that were true, then every man would be paying a whole lot more attention to whether or not a girl has a thigh gap, but, alas, most could not care less about it. That would be like going by a man's foot size to determine his penis size. It's just not anatomically correct.

Also, do you even know what the pelvis looks like, much more in 3D?
www.innerbody.com/anatomy-images/pelvis.png
www.reproductivemedicine.com.au/.../body3.jpg
You talk as if there is nothing else contained in the pelvic cavity but the vagina for it to be loose if "the pelvis is spread far apart", as if pelvic floor muscles, which even has its very own kegel exercise known and done by many to tighten the vagina, do not exist.

[TheINTJ]

www.feministmidwife.com/.../pelvictypes.png
images.slideplayer.com/.../slide_7.jpg

You are saying that someone who has an anthropoid pelvis with narrower hips and thus no thigh gap will have a tighter vagina than someone who has a platypelloid pelvis with wider hips and likely also a thigh gap just because the latter has a thigh gap and the former not, even though they have just about the same - if not the anthropoid actually having bigger, overall pelvic cavity size, only the anthropoid pelvis is bigger in transverse dimension and the platypelloid in antero-posterior? Really?

[TheINTJ]

- only the anthropoid pelvis is bigger in antero-posterior dimension and the platypelloid in transverse dimension.*

The again, even just going by this logic, you’re already contradicting yourself. What about tall, big-framed women then? Wouldn’t they have a bigger pelvis size in comparison to someone petite and small-framed, even without having a thigh gap? So going by your logic, a big-framed woman without a thigh gap, having inherently bigger bone structure and thus a bigger pelvis, will have what? A tighter or a looser vagina? I’m confused, because on one hand you say that thigh gaps mean a loose vagina and on the other you say “pelvis spread far apart” makes for a loose vagina. You see now how messed up everything becomes when you try to follow through with your logic?

Point is pelvic bone structure has nothing to do with the tightness of a vagina.

[myTake Owner]

@TheINTJ this girl has it.

And my answer was a hypothetical besides its nothing to do with pelvic structure it's almost everything to do with the muscles in the pelvic floor

[LiveFreeorDieHard]

Ok, well i can admit when im wrong and you sound like a med student so yeah, i guess your right.

[ManOnFire]

It's not only ridiculous, it's disgusting. Women with thigh gaps are not attractive to me, and it's even worse when you have the ones that actually want to achieve it.

[myTake Owner]

Well realistically the ones with it naturally can't really change it so I'm not attacking them but the stupidity of wanting to achieve such a thing is.. (I agree) disgusting and stupid

[StewieRH]

I'm not even going to read this but I don't have big boobs, wouldn't call myself super skinny, don't have much in the way of an ass, don't have high cheek bones, big eyes or perfect hair yet one of the things I DO have is the thigh gap yet all I'm hearing these days are negative things about it.

Does anyone actually like the thigh gap?

[myTake Owner]

I'm not saying its a bad thing just that it's a stupid thing to idealize because for a majority of girls it's an impossibility

[StewieRH]

Good point. It's just I mainly seem to hear negative about it these days so when I first heard about it and realised I had it, it was like "Finally! Something about my body that people see as attractive" but now it's like "That one thing I actually got and it turns out people don't like it"

[CBryan]

I like everything on a girl, not a body part here or there. I'm not perfect, I don't expect her to be perfect. As a matter of fact, I actually prefer the ones most people don't consider sexy. As long as I like it, I don't care what society says.

[ColinHarvey]

Here she is!

[xHoneyxBeex]

I love this! Thanks for sharing!

I've never understood why so many women want thigh gaps. I have one naturally because I'm just a small girl. That's just how my body type and bone structure is. I've never once been complimented for my thigh gap, I've never even had anyone point it out to me. So, it's never been something I even think about. I wish more women would realize they don't need a thigh gap in order to be in shape or healthy.

[myTake Owner]

I don't have anything against the gap it's just that I prefer it if a girl has strong thighs it's sexy to me

A girls thighs naturally should be as round as the shoulder If not bigger if she's not a petite girl naturally

[xHoneyxBeex]

As you said in your myTake, everyone is built differently.

[myTake Owner]

Exactly

I can have my preferences but at the end of the day I'm not going to dump a girl because of how her hips are set.. That's like not dating a girl because she has small breasts... It's not an issue but it can't be changed without surgery

Who would want to change it though?

[BelleGirl21]

I'm totally mesomorph! There's no way I'll have thigh gap yet for some stupid reason I feel so fat when I look at my thighs 😒

[myTake Owner]

Something tells me from your pic that you'd have some pretty nice legs

[BelleGirl21]

If you like short muscular legs then yeah lol 😂🙈

[myTake Owner]

Yeah I don't mind them at all

[Anonymous]

I have a natural thigh gap and it seems to me that fat people are shaming 'skinny' people more and more. I don't starve I eat a varied diet and can be naughty with chocolate etc like the rest of us in fact I eat way more food then my family and husband and eat chocolate everyday. I am always picked on by fat people saying 'u obviously don't eat' or I'm obsessed by my weight - no I'm not I never weight myself. I'm sick of fat people trying to say skinny is wrong yet if it's said the other way around it's frowned upon. But bullying skinny people is acceptable right. articles like this piss me off just shut up about weight and body size cause you're making it more of an issue then it ever was

[Glue-Sniffer]

Why are you so angry?

[myTake Owner]

Did you actually read it? All of it?
I made a point to say it doesn't matter either way and everyone has their preferences.

And the whole take wasn't about shaming anyone it was just to point out the fact that idealizing and trying to have the whole thigh gap is impossible for people with a certain body type.

If you're going to have a go at me at least read the fucking thing properly.

[ColinHarvey]

All women should have two through gaps.

And four boobs. Once you go saimese you never go back.

Que the

"I have huge boobs and a big but and I have a through gap and I'm proud of it, people say I'm really pretty but I don't see it. Does that mean I'm fat?"

[myTake Owner]

Lol I like you

[Hollywood-Glam]

Despite the popularity of the thigh gap, I don't think that many girls are pursuing to get it. Trust me, most girls don't care about having a thigh gap, that's what I hear all the time, and most guys are indifferent to whether or not a girl has a thigh gap. People think* the thigh gap is a trend and girls are obsessed over it, no that's not the truth.

[COCOCHANEL]

why is that pelvic type called an
android. it should be called a heartoid.
what are the fingertips doing there?

[NJ_Casanova]

I'm usually not attracted to girls that look like that... too skinny, I like my curves.. thank you;-P

[ConsultantIsBack]

Ya thigh gap is based on body structure, many hot/fit girls that don't have thigh gap. But that doesn't mean thigh gaps are disgusting bc they aren't, many times thigh gaps are hot (again, countless hot girls that don't have thigh gap too)

[myTake Owner]

It's not the gap that is disgusting like I mentioned MANY TIMES. It is the fact that girls are doing a lot of shit to try and get it when they clearly aren't built to have it

[ConsultantIsBack]

Oh ya

[Poppykate]

I love you! ❤️❤️ Great points, and well thought out!

[ClassicRocker]

Guys don't care about this shit... Women make up shit like this and that weird-ass roll of quarters on the collarbone thing. Why? I don't know.

[myTake Owner]

Roll of quarters thing? The Fuck you on about?

[ClassicRocker]

I don't know it was one of these other weird-ass things... Something about putting a roll of quarters on your collarbone. You're kind of proving my point by the way lol...

[oddwaffle]

Maybe it's impossible but so is the boobs mechanism in anime and video games. That get a lot of guys excited for... hours and hours.

The difference between what people want and what they have is that one of them get ignored until reality kicks in.

[bluenose1872]

You've got something or you don't. You can't will it into existence. Who gives a shit anyway. Not as if any guy is going to get down on his knees in front of a girl and see if he can look through to the wall behind.

[thatkaruguy]

women want thigh gaps because they think men like it but most dont give a shit or dont like them. its just like those girls that think they will be liked more if they are super skinny.