Ah, the elusive thigh gap. This desire a lot of women have has been showing up a lot in the media lately. Why this is being publicised as a sudden obsession is a little beyond me. I remember being in grade 5 and scrutinising over my legs and the size of the gap between my thighs when my feet and knees were together.
That’s what a thigh gap or box gap is – the ‘gap’ between a females inner thighs when her feet and knees are together. Ridiculous? Yes. These are my thoughts…
What The Thigh Gap Represents
The thigh gap represents skinny legs. Period. That’s why chicks want it. True? It’s rather alarming that I remember being in primary school and looking in the mirror to see if I had this ‘thigh gap’ a lot of the girls were gossiping about. I can even recall one of the larger girls being teased by another girl in our year because her inner thighs touched. Kids can be soooo cruel and impacting.
What this clearly tells us is that from a very young age, girls have body image issues. Whether it stems from the media, other girls, family etc,
Women desire the thigh gap for the same reason they desire a flat stomach or smaller thighs/butt….to feel more confident in themselves.
Let’s look at this a little closer. Feeling more confident can be a reflection of how we feel about ourselves aesthetically; and how we feel about ourselves aesthetically, is greatly influenced by the unrealistic way the media portrays women. Self-doubt and negative mean girl thoughts run rampant in women’s minds. Am I beautiful? Is my hair thick enough? Are my legs too fat? Are my boobs too small? Do I have too much cellulite? Is my skin aging? Do I need botox (I can’t believe how young women are having this procedure done these days!)? Etc, etc, etc.
What Some Women Are Doing…
It’s not breaking news that a lot of women (and men) will opt for cosmetic surgery to change or enhance something about themselves. I recently learned about a procedure called CoolSculpting which freezes the fat cells making you leaner in the desired area without needing to do painful procedures such as liposuction. Sounds pretty good.
But is it a quick (and expensive) fix?
It sounds good in theory, and it seems quite successful in spot reducing, but if your diet aint right and you’re not exercising enough and you have negative self-talk going on, I’m afraid it will only last so long. It would be so much more beneficial to practice self-love and self-care, exercise frequently, eat nourishing wholefoods and speak kindly & lovingly to yourself.
I’ve also read that a lot of young girls are starving themselves, even tweeting statements such as “only 3 inches to go!” in pursuit of the thigh gap. You can even follow supermodel Cara Delevingne’s thigh gap on Twitter! Oh golly gosh. Shocking.
What a lot of women don’t realise, is genetics and the size of your pelvis play important roles in attaining the thigh gap. That’s not to say there aren’t some strategies you can put in place to get your legs lean though!
In part two, I will share with you what I do with myself (and my clients) to tone my thighs…the healthy way 🙂
There’s also a book called “The Thigh Gap Hack” that promises to teach you different techniques to get a thigh gap if you have to lose fat and a different technique if you need to lose muscle.
I got it to lose the muscle in my legs, which are overdeveloped. it’s really hard to find information like that.
I want a thigh gap because it looks feminine. Plain and simple.
Fair enough Tee! Did the exercises in the book help?
Hi my name is cassie and I have been looking up about all of this box gap stuff and just so you know I am 17 and I have had a box gap since I was little and I just wanted to know what’s so good about a box gap all of my best girl mates always wish they were me just because of my box gap I just don’t understand what’s so good about it
Hey Cassie, thanks for your comment sweetie. There’s nothing ‘good’ about the box gap – it doesn’t make you a better person or more beautiful than someone who doesn’t have one. It sounds like you have the gap naturally, probably due to the size of your pelvis. Unfortunately, young girls seem to want the box gap as they want skinnier legs, and they believe when their inner thighs touch, that they must have big thighs…and girls are VERY self-conscious of this. It doesn’t help that the media and magazines have images of women with overly skinny thighs. The best thing you can do with your girlfriends, is compliment them on all their other beautiful traits and characteristics…especially around them as a person. Hope this helps x