Thigh gap

A thigh gap is a space between the inner thighs of some women when standing upright with knees touching. In the 21st century, some people in the West have begun to consider the thigh gap a special feature of physical attractiveness and physical fitness in women. In the United States, it was reported that among teenage girls, a gap had become a beauty ideal. Many women have found it difficult to achieve a thigh gap, leading some to resort to extreme dieting or surgery in order to try to obtain it. Critics of the phenomenon have held that the thigh gap is a physical feature natural only for women with a certain type of body shape and bone structure that most women do not have. An AFP article cites several American psychologists and sociologists, one a body image expert, who opine that attempts to attain what they deem an unattainable ideal come at the cost of problems of self-esteem that can lead to eating disorders.