Target’s Thigh Gap Fail: That Happened

Libby Lowe — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 07:00:35 +0000

ColumnOh the thigh gap. Controversial. #Thinspirational. A stop on the way to bikini bridge on the body dysmorphia journey. But, in many cases, the thigh gap is total bullshit.

Juniors browsing for swimwear on Target’s website this week were treated to models whose private regions had been (very poorly) Photoshopped in an effort to create that coveted gap between women’s legs. The gap that proves: I’m super thin.

Two words: LEGO crotch! The designer gave these girls LEGO crotch. We are way past a thigh gap here, people.

More alarming than the lack of quality control on the design team is that this kind of Photoshopping is the norm in most women’s magazines, catalogs and websites. Even worse is that it appeared on the juniors section of Target’s site.

Young women face enough adversity about their bodies without also having to strive for square vaginas.

Forty to 60 percent of elementary school girls (ages 6-12) are concerned about their weight or about becoming too fat, and 20 million women will struggle with an eating disorder at some point in their lifetime.

Looking at the original photo, it’s clear that the design team also went to town erasing parts of the model’s arms—especially near her armpit where her arm would have come into contact with her gross, disgusting size XXS body.

“It was an unfortunate error on our part and we apologize. We removed the image from the site and we’re working to get a new image up there,” Target spokesman Evan Miller told ABCNews.com.

This apology is rather half-assed (maybe Target’s design team Photoshopped out the other half) and doesn’t address the bigger issue about the company’s contribution to negative body images among teen girls.

The ABC News segment has a lot of reporters asking why. But, really, is anyone shocked by this at all? Do we need Target to explain why?

Looking at the juniors swim page on Target’s site on Wednesday, it seems like the company got the message. The first model is thin, but healthy looking. At least she looks like she probably has the strength to hoist herself out of the pool after swimming.

It’s hard to say if she has a thigh gap because she’s standing like a normal person. And, when you zoom in, it’s clear that she has a butt that is separate from her leg.

Progress.

So, rather than push Target to tell us what we already know—it was trying to make a thin girl even smaller—let’s focus on helping our girls stop starving themselves to meet beauty standards that are not only unattainable, they aren’t even real.

That Happened is Libby Lowe’s weekly column for EcoSalon analyzing media, news and pop culture through a feminist lens. Keep in touch with Libby @LibbyLowe.

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Image: Target

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The Thigh Gap: An Unfortunate Body Image Trend

Krissy Brady — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 08:00:15 +0000

Confession: When I learned about the thigh gap trend, I looked in the mirror to see if I have one. I don’t, and guess what? The world didn’t come to an end!

The “thigh gap” is the new cleavage (which I don’t have either!). In case you haven’t heard, a thigh gap is the space between the tops of your legs when you stand with your feet together. This feature has become a disturbing form of ‘thinspiration’ among young women, with entire Tumblr blogs, Pinterest boards, Twitter accounts, and hashtags dedicated to the subject. There’s even a tutorial on how to get a thigh gap (FYI the first sentence of step one is “Understand that a thigh gap is not physically possible for most people.”)

When it comes to body image trends in general, I’ve been completely out of the loop for the past few years – on purpose. I spent almost my entire 20s trying to build and maintain the “ultimate” lifestyle that’s “supposed” to make a woman happy: the career, the home, the clothes, the shoes, the makeup, the tech, the socializing, the relationship. On the outside, my life looked like a Marc Jacobs ad. But I was exhausted trying to keep up, and behind all the glitz I wasn’t a woman anymore – I was a shell.

Sure I could blame the photoshopped celebs and models in fashion mags, and every thigh gap blog out there for how I feel about myself, but the only one truly to blame for my formerly-skewed body image is me. How you feel about your body is 100 percent in your control. A fashion ad is just that – we’re the ones imposing the subliminal messages of perfection onto ourselves.

What helped me break free was when I started thinking about the women I admire and the reasons I admire them. Surprisingly, my admiration had nothing to do with their looks or thigh gap at all, instead it was what they’ve achieved – they’re so successful in their areas of expertise they surpass the concept of physical beauty. In fact, their eccentricities are their signature – and the “weirder” they are, the more I admire them!

Even if you were to achieve the perfect thigh gap (I can’t believe I just said that), there’s going to be a new body image obsession right around the corner – you have to decide where to draw the line. Model Robyn Lawley put it best:

We have the power to change perceptions about body image—and we have the power to stop harmful trends like the “thigh gap.”

How do you feel about the thigh gap trend?

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Image: Wikimedia Commons

The post The Thigh Gap: An Unfortunate Body Image Trend appeared first on EcoSalon.

thigh gap – EcoSalon

Target’s Thigh Gap Fail: That Happened

The Thigh Gap: An Unfortunate Body Image Trend