Do you remember way back in the 2012 and 2013 when it was reported that the thigh gap had become the most attainable body shape one could possibly hope for? The news was quickly followed by semi hysterical reports that teenagers were starving themselves to attain this almost-mythical thigh gap, before we reached the happy agreement that setting the thigh gap as an attainable body goal was A Bad Thing.
And the new body image to strive for? It’s the thick thigh, apparently. Searches for the term have gone up by 300% since the end of 2011, and writers are jumping over themselves to pen though pieces on why they’d take their thick thighs over skinny legs any day. Which is all fine, but when does one body shape have to be the ideal? When are we going to learn to embrace the difference a bit more?
Body positivity is something to celebrate. It’s brilliant to see more magazines and websites publishing content encouraging women not to base their self-worth on ridiculous, unrealistic beauty standards. Standards that the vast majority of the female population has literally zero chance of meeting - unless they treat the gym like a full-time job and subsist on nothing but lean protein and NutriBullet smoothies, and who has the time or the willpower to do that?
God knows, it makes a change from the constant barrage of articles telling us all the ways we’re apparently not good enough. My body confidence was already fairly shaky, but it’s only been made worse by newspapers informing me of new ‘flaws’ I didn’t even know existed. Things like imperfect nipple placement and insufficient spine curvature.
Likewise, it’s brilliant to see a wider range of body types presented as desirable in the mainstream media, when for most of the 90s and early 00s there were only really two options: very skinny and waifish, like heroin chic-era Kate Moss, or skinny with big tits, like a cover model from the golden era of lads’ mags.
There’s also a racial element to this that makes it an even bigger deal. Statistically, certain non-white ethnicities are more likely to have the bigger, rounded buttocks and thighs that are currently celebrated in celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj. Hard as it might be to believe now, Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back was actually kind of subversive when it was first released in 1992. Not because many men (and women who’re attracted to women) didn’t already ‘like big butts’ - they just didn’t happen to be particularly fashionable. At least, not in the white-dominated mainstream.
In this context, I really don’t want to downplay the positivity of shifting norms that mean a greater range of body types are now presented as desirable. Skinny might still dominate in the world of fashion but, if social media posts are anything to go by, teenage girls dreaming about their ideal ‘bikini body’ are as likely to be picturing Amber Rose as they are one of the ultra slender Victoria’s Secret models. This is undeniably a step in the right direction, particularly for anyone who naturally tends towards the curvier end of the spectrum.
At the same time, it’s important not to overstate how revolutionary this all actually is - particularly when you start to think about what hasn’t changed. They may have evolved and even broadened, but the fundamental truth is that unrealistic beauty standards haven’t gone away. For most women, looking like Beyonce is no more achievable than looking like a catwalk model. Even those who at least possess the right skeletal structure - something which excludes many of us before we even get started - would need to maintain a strict diet and work-out regime.
#Fitspiration may have replaced #Thinspiration as the Tumblr and Instagram hashtag de jour, but how different really is it? Women are still striving to achieve an aesthetic goal that goes far beyond the natural result of exercising regularly and eating sensibly. Clearly, this is not going to be a route to happiness and mental wellbeing for a lot of people. The term ‘orthorexia' is used to describe a type of eating disorder where individuals become fixated on ‘clean’ eating.
It doesn’t help that today’s celebs frequently photoshop even their candid snaps - presenting an image of perfection that’s even further from reality for the rest of us mere mortals. To extend an analogy, all that’s basically happened is the goal posts have moved. It’s not become any easier to score.
Fundamentally, we’re still very much encouraged to base our self-confidence on how desirable our bodies are to men. Not even that, but how desirable the media tells us our bodies are to ‘men’ as a general category. It would be patronising to tell everyone to just care less about wanting to be seen as 'hot', especially when I’ve not even managed it myself, but it is sometimes nice to remember the good things about your body that have nothing to do with what it looks like. In my own case, I like that I’m naturally quite a fast runner (even though I’ve let that slide a bit since the days of school athletics competitions).
What’s more, in the experience of many women I’ve spoken to, male aesthetic tastes are actually a lot more varied than popular culture would have us believe. In a blog post for XO Jane, Emily McCombs describes feeling embarrassed by her ‘droopy, loose-skinned mom belly’ even when her sexual partner was literally telling her he found it sexy - because she’s been so conditioned to think of it as unattractive.
True body positivity would encourage us to feel good about all parts of our bodies, regardless of whether they conform to some preset, limited ideal. It would celebrate the fact that all types of body are considered attractive by some people, whilst reminding us that physical attractiveness doesn’t define us as people, we’ve got a lot more to offer the world. Sadly, it still seems to be in fairly short supply.
Like this? You might also be interested in:
Orthorexia - The Hidden Eating Disorder Your Best Friend Could Be Suffering From
Zoe Kravitz's Anorexia Role Shows How Messed Up Hollywood Is
Picture: Lukasz Wierzbowski
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.