While bikini season is behind us (for now), the pressures of achieving or maintaining a “perfect” body still exist, even as we layer up for winter. Social media site such as Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram are inundated with the concept of “thinspiration,” a method of using unhealthy images and quotes as motivation to lose weight.
Robyn Lawley, 24, is one of the top plus-sized models in the world. She has appeared on the covers of Vogue Italia, Elle France, Glamour, and countless other international publications. This year, she became the first plus-sized model ever to be hired by Ralph Lauren.
She explains in her recent Op-Ed. on The Daily Beast her shock when she found a picture of herself on a Facebook page that encouraged girls to have a thigh gap.
“The page displayed an un-retouched photo of me in lingerie. From the photograph, there appeared to be a gap between my thighs. Degrading and humiliating comments followed. I was called too ‘hefty’ to be featured. The word ‘PIG’ was often used to describe my appearance and my thigh gap was said to be not big enough,” said Lawley.
Outraged, Lawley left a 900 word comment on the Facebook photo and is now speaking out against the dangers of unachievable and even unhealthy body image goals.
“The truth is I couldn’t care less about needing a supposed ‘thigh gap.’ It’s just another tool of manipulation that other people are trying to use to keep me from loving my body. Why would I want to starve and weaken my natural body size? I’m not saying women who have it naturally are unattractive. But I would have to change my entire frame just to achieve something that seems so trivial,” said Lawley.
Interestingly, Lawley calls concepts like the thigh gap a tool of manipulation. Who benefits when women feel unattractive? Cosmetic companies, weight-loss scams, gyms, even fashion magazines. They make a profit on women’s self-perceived ugliness and perpetuate it even further. When will it even stop?
Sure, a thigh gap might make your itty bitty jean shorts look great, but talk to any athlete about a thigh gap and they will laugh in your face. Most athletes, or any in-shape person for that matter, need powerful leg muscles that make a thigh gap completely of the realm of possibility. Do we consider those women fat?
Even Bloomsburg students build up their own legs by walking up hills all day. It’s an inevitability. When I’m struggling up E. 2nd street to campus, I’ll take leg muscles over a thigh gap any day.
But will the stigma of being fat ever go away? Lawley seems to think it’s up to us. She advocates that “we have the power to change perceptions about body image—and we have the power to stop harmful trends like the ‘thigh gap.'” It’s certainly not curing cancer, but eliminating one of the pressures women face daily about their bodies could have a serious effect on our self-esteems.
In the past 12 months, Lawley has appeared on seven covers of top international magazines, walked in Milan Fashion Week, and appeared in countless TV interviews worldwide. She is represented by Wilhelmina Models, and regularly maintains the food blog Robyn Lawley Eats. Something tells me not having a thigh gap is not hindering Lawley’s life in any way.