What is the obsession with thigh gaps?

LizKurz

The idea being that the less that gets in the way of a chap getting right there and giving a woman a jolly good seeing to, the more it seems as if they have to offer...

LMAO!!

atjays

It's called "the chive" and its just a sexy looking part of the body. Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about. It's not entirely about your thighs not touching, its about a tiny bit of space or day light between your upper thighs and your crotch. You don't have to be super skinny. Like side boob, feet/toes and other obscure parts of the body, someone will always find something overly attractive.

jetscreaminagain

I don't get it at all, and other than that picture of the girl with the bows on her upper legs, none of the pictures look at all attractive to me.

When I was a kid, other kids would make fun of kids with "bow legs". That's all I think about when I see this.

Also when I was pretty young, my mom had an exercise book that was called "Callinetics" or something like that. I vividly remember it saying that you "should" when standing with your feet together, have your legs touch at the ankles, calves, and upper thighs and nowhere else.

I've learned enough to try to ignore anything that tells me what I should look like anymore, but this one snuck in before I was aware. However, I think it is a good measure of healthy and attractive. Much more so than those anorexic looking thinspo pictures. Plus, I'm just about there, so I choose the 3 places legs should touch rather than this weird bow-legged-thigh-gap-thing.

tabulator32

Its official. Now, in addition to the technical term of "thigh gap," there is also the trendy slang term "chive."

It must be popular to somewhere! I'm guessing another trend instigated and nurtured by European fashion mags.

I'll always stop and think before sprinkling chives on my baked potato from this day forward.

: (

warmachinejt

this is madness...besides if im checking a girl up and down I'm checking above her "thigh gap"

hesn92

I have never even considered having or not having a thigh gap lol....

I guess I have one? When I stand with my feet together, my knees don't touch and neither do my thighs. If I put my knees together, my thighs touch.

I don't get it.

rcc1988

I think it's partly because having that gap when you stand gives the illusion that your legs are longer, whereas when your thighs are pressed tight together when you stand, they appear shorter.

Articeluvsmemphis

coco butter and sensitive skin lotion is the answer to all your prayers, haven't had chaffing in YEARS.

hesn92

This is proof that skinny doesn't always equal "thigh gap"

Nerdy_Rose

Seeing other people have a "thigh gap" as part of their goals depresses me because I will never ever have a thigh gap. I weighed 110-115 pounds in high school and I was freaking tiny, and I didn't have a thigh gap. I got my big legs from my momma, but guys seem to like 'em.

I would however kill to be able to walk around in a skirt and not get thigh burns during the summer. Alas, this is not my fate.

strawberrie_milk

I just like how they look!

DiannaMoorer

My thighs still rub.Even though I have lost weight. I will rejoice the day they no longer rub! I still have some weight to lose. I like to wear longish exercise shorts, tight ones so when I run I don't chafe and my shorts don't ride up. Very annoying!

LilRedRooster

Even when I was a size 2, and down to my lowest weight, I never had one, haha. My hips are too narrow, so by design, I'm not made for that sort of thing. It's cool, I've embraced the holes in my pants that are always happening on the inner thighs. I've also embraced not wearing running shorts, because I spend more time pulling them out of my butt crack due to my thighs rubbing them up there.

Though I have to say, I don't like that people bash it. I have a friend who has natural bowlegs (it's the way she's shaped; my boyfriend has them, as well), and her legs couldn't touch unless she weighed an atrocious amount over her normal. But she has muscle, and she's healthy; she's just got a shape that gives her a gap.

So while people might embrace their lack of thigh gap, don't bash on people who might have it naturally, or say that it's unattractive. While you might not enjoy it because it's not something you have, don't make it sound like the people who do have it are just terrible people because of it. That's just being snarky and rude.

meerkat70

Since I started MFP in January, this has got to be THE STUPIDEST SUBJECT posted !!!! :huh: :noway:

stick around, mate. You clearly ain't seen nothing yet.

EBFNP

Since I started MFP in January, this has got to be THE STUPIDEST SUBJECT posted !!!! :huh: :noway:

stick around, mate. You clearly ain't seen nothing yet.

Honestly, I've been here since late February, and it just gets worse and worse..lol..Like do people really think about these things?

JenAiMarres

I'm not too thin, my legs are the biggest most muscular part of my body...I have one...they are visually appealing to some people just like some people like green eyes etc... I use mine as a gauge if I am too chunky or not.

Lozze

Honestly, I've been here since late February, and it just gets worse and worse..lol..Like do people really think about these things?

There's been at least ten topics I've seen with poole asking how to get one. Hence my post.

OnceAndFutureAthlete

I just want to be able to [...] not worry about [...] starting a fire!

OK, I LOL'd.
I SO get what you mean!

meerkat70

Honestly, I've been here since late February, and it just gets worse and worse..lol..Like do people really think about these things?

There's been at least ten topics I've seen with poole asking how to get one. Hence my post.

I don't think it's a remotely stupid topic. It's a very weird obsession, and people do seem to be very, very concerned about it. It puzzles me too.

juliesummers

It's just an aesthetic preference.
I have it, and I love it. The more I have it, the more I love it. I'm not comfortable wearing shorts without it.

I thought it was just something that specific girls noticed, but a few weeks ago I was hanging out with a group of about 10 guys and somehow thigh gaps came up, and they all started raving about how sexy thigh gaps were. They called them "nirvana gaps" and "square crotch", and a few of them even said it was the number one sexiest thing on a girl. I was shocked, because all my life I'd been told that guys didn't like skinny girls with my body type.

Also --- it's definitely not just a matter of weight. It's body composition and bone structure. If someone's hips are particularly narrow, they could be super skinny but still have their thighs touch. This is not my case -- my hips are wide set enough that I have a thigh gap anywhere within my preferred weight range.

mznisaelaine

Ill be satisfied the day my thighs dont rub together because it is uncomfortable. That is all. But am I obsessing over it? No not at all.

StevLL

This is not as strange a subject as most think, it's an actual probelm for some folks when it comes to comfort and health, both physcal and mental. I also don't think it's just about weight I think genetics is huge.

As a guy old enough to remember when Corduroy (sic) was the fashion I can say visual preferences aside the pain from starting a fire between your thighs from material friction is not pleasant and takes some time to heal. I get the desire for lack of thigh rub. When I found lifting as a young adult it changed my legs forever. Changes in specific body parts can happen with the right combination of cardio/weightlifting/calesthenics/pylometrics. It requires dedication and a lot of time, but even though last year I got all the way up to 371 my thighs didn't rub. But 35 years ago I would have to put patches in the thighs of my jeans before wearing them the first time to keep them from disintergrating from spontaneous combustion.

CoderGal

So this seemed to pop up in the last few years which I found entertaining. It was never a thing when I was younger but a lot of pro ana people on tumblr seem to want them. That being said even when I was at my largest weight my knees were more likely to knock together then my thighs. Its all in the way your made. The biggest part of me now is my *kitten* and thighs and I still have one.

Scandinavia

I have a thigh gap.



When I stand with my feet shoulder width apart.

LOL, this. Made my day.

mandylooo

I just want to be able to wear shorts when I run, or something cute and sexy for my fella and not worry about looking gross or starting a fire! I only want a small natural one though, I am not dieting with a gap as a goal. I am 10lbs away from my goal, and I still don't have one, so odds are not in my favor as of now. . . .

But you don't have to have a thigh gap at all to do that.

And you don't have to have a thigh gap for your thighs not to chafe either.

quererespoder

i dont get the obsession with thigh gaps either. latin guys dislike super skinny girls and the "ideal" body type is a girl with boobs , an *kitten*, hips and nice legs. not stick thin , everyone hates that. when i was super skinny 2 years ago i had a thigh gap , not as extreme as some of the pics posted here but my friend pointed it out as a flaw, she was like " you have a nice upper body but you have no legs or *kitten*. your legs are so skinny you even have a thigh gap, ew" and now that i weigh like 10 lbs more than i did back then , i barely have it. everyone complements my legs cuz apparently i "have" legs, unlike my best friend who has a thigh gap , guys have told me her legs are way too skinny. i totally love my toned and gorgeous legs right now and i'd be disappointed if they got so skinny my thigh gap became too noticeable again

LilRedRooster

Yeah, no thigh gap there. And she's in shorts. Proof that not all people with lack of thigh gap start fires, although we think we do.

mandylooo

I have a big thigh gap- the only place my legs touch when my feet are together are at the calves- and didn't realize how sought after it was (and at the same time found gross) until I joined myfitnesspal. I will say, my husband thinks I look too skinny in jeans because it is so noticable and my muscles are covered up. He prefers me to wear shorts in the summer so that people can see that my legs are muscular in spite of the gap.

If those are your legs, you don't look gross because, as you point out, your legs are muscular and so aren't too thin. I think most people are saying, if you've got it naturally, it's fine and will look ok, it's when people loose too much weight to attain it that it becomes unattractive.

ironanimal

Everyone has a thigh gap when it matters.

Trail_Addict

From what I'm gathering so far:

1. It's genetics, and depends on hip structure. ** Makes sense.**
2. It may, or may not, be achieved as a 'byproduct' of smart dieting and exercise, but cannot be directly targeted. ** No argument there.**
2. A loss of inner thigh fat, resulting in less chaffing and clothing destruction. ** I can buy that.**
3. All the cool girls have one, and I'm so insecure within my own skin, that I need to strive for it to fit in. ** Seek counseling.**