A pipe dream?

Ape it or gape at it, the latest body image fad among girls abroad is the thigh gap!

The world "thinspiration" brigade woke up to a new body image fad a few days ago. And believe it or not, it has everything to do with an empty space! A gap. Between your legs! Don't let us scare you. We are referring to the "thigh gap" — the gap between your upper thighs when you stand with your feet together. With literal "trend setters" flooding the internet with miracle workouts and extreme diets to achieve the gap, youngsters, especially teenage girls abroad, are sweating it out to climb aboard.

How it began?
Although the trend has been around for a while, with anorexic models endorsing it on international runways, the fad attracted eyeballs when fitness fanatics started approving the need for this "essential gap" on social media sites. In a shocking instance, US model Robyn Lawley was recently slammed by the "thinspo" crowd (Haven't caught up yet? It's the abbreviation for "thinsporation" — photos of skinny women which "healthy" girls use as reminders to lose weight!) for being plus sized. Robyn reacted on Facebook posting, "I suppose we all want different things, but women have enough pressure as it is without the added burden of achieving a 'thigh gap'".

Poster girls of the trend
English TV presenter-model Alexa Chung and supermodel Cara Delevingne have been deemed the face of this "unhealthy" movement, with fans creating social networking pages on their thigh gaps. For Cara, however, the 'fan'aticism has gone a step further with admirers creating Twitter handles on her body parts like fingers (over 2,500 followers), eyebrows (over 3,700), breasts (over 2,000) and feet (over 1,300), besides the thigh gap (over 3,500 followers)!

The 'gap'ing truth!
The thigh gap has come under massive attack from parents, psychologists and fitness gurus with most trying to reason with teenagers that it's "next to impossible to attain". It's a result of genetic body makeup and cannot be achieved by diets, exercise or starvation tactics. Even worldwide health organizations have intervened to prevent teenagers from blindly supporting the trend.

Such was the backlash that the creator of @CarasThighGap on Twitter felt the need to explain herself on her page. She posted, "@an3akruger I didn't make this account to make girls starve themselves. But the day everyone started creating bodyparts accounts I thought.. a thigh gap one was original and funnier than a normal body part, and thats why Cara followed, cause it was so silly, not to (sic)".

Dr (says) no
While the bizarre trend hasn't reached India, psychologists remain wary. Says Dr Bimal Sengupta, a psychologist with a reputed city medical centre, "The trend is extremely detrimental to physical or mental well-being. It's unfortunate that despite knowing the cons of starvation techniques, mysterious weight loss supplements and excessive exercising, youngsters still resort to them. Drastic weight loss in a few days is a myth and its measures are risky. Their only outcomes are stress, loss of confidence and depression. Also, Indian women have genetically well-endowed structures, which, if altered for such inane trends, can prove to be hazardous." So, all you 'trend'ing youngsters out there, turn your back to messages like 'Sweat like a pig, look like a fox' because it will only get you SMHs. What's that? Shaking my head, duh!

Recent body image fads