Robyn Lawley has weighed in on young women’s desire for a “thigh gap” – a disturbing social media trend encouraging users to be unhealthily thin.
The 24-year-old Australian model expressed her disgust writing about the proliferation of the trend, which encourages women to pursue a “thigh gap”, defined as the space between one’s thighs.
“Everywhere online, users are posting aspirational pictures, used as inspiration for weight loss and dieting,” she writes on the Daily Beast, going on to quote shocking messages from Pinterest users who have succumbed to the trend.
“I want the thigh gap. Right now, I could start a fire between my thighs,” she quotes one girl as saying.
“No goal was ever achieved without a thigh gap.”
Lawley, who has become a role model for young women spreading her positive body image message, says that while the trend is new to social media, in the modelling industry she has been inundated by images of the “thigh gap” since the age of 12.
“Staring down at my own thighs, I can safely say that has never been the case for me,” the size 16 model writes.
Lawley describes how surprised and appalled she was to find herself on a pro-thigh gap Facebook page recently when an image of herself bending forward, so a space could be seen between her legs, was posted as inspiration for young women wanting to be thin.
She found the experience “degrading and humiliating”, and has described the online trend as just another “tool of manipulation” to keep women from loving their body.
“I want the opposite: I want my thighs to be bigger and stronger. I want to run faster and swim longer,” she says.
“I suppose we all just want different things, but women have enough pressure as it is without the added burden of achieving a ‘thigh gap’.”
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