As a person who loves horseback riding, creating a gap between my thighs will be the one thing I will never accomplish. (Unless I grow o-shaped legs all of a sudden.)
I also find it a silly and useless fashion statement. People should be happy with their healthy body. I put in healthy, because no one likes malnourished nor morbidly obese people.

BUT!
There is an easier way to create thigh-gaps, that don't require massive loss of weight. It's quite simple actually.
This works best with heels.
Step one: Put your legs together, toes pointing forward.
Step two: turn your heels outward, toes pointing to one other.
Step three: stick out that badunkadunk!
You now have a successful instant thigh-gap!

I agree with you to an extent as well. You can't blame porn completely for this kind of thing, but there is definitely a reason that advertising is so sexualized. After all "sex sells." Like the one article I posted said you see a lot of "porn fashion" around because of that. So I do think it's a combination of the two.

I also agree that most men aren't the kinds of idiots that can't separate porn from reality, but if we went into a less specific debate and started talking about all the things that psychological research has shown porn has done to a large population of the people who watch it, it's definitely extremely influential. If you are normal and do separate real life and porn, that's great. The problem is that a lot of people don't, so you get a lot of negative effects like an expanding rape culture and aggression towards women. Anyway, knowing that porn is influential in that department and also through life experience I've found a lot of beauty trends from porn have been very pervasive. Fake boobs, etc. etc.

You're definitely right that most men aren't addicted and most men can separate the two as fantasy and reality. I'm just saying that it does influence, and when it does it has the potential to be an extremely bad influence like unrealistic expectations of women's bodies and other things.

Anyway, yeah, we agree on the fashion industry being bad for sure. There's nothing wrong with working out and wanting to have a nice body, but when you get into the phase of hurting yourself to have that "nice" body then something's not right.

Nah, I think I mostly got what you said. Correct me if I went off on some weird tangent myself. :)

I am 1m73 and 69kg, which means my BMI is about 23.5. And I still have a thigh gap, because I have a wide pelvis. The gap is tiny compared to when I weighed 5kg less, but my thighs still don't touch. I never heard about it being fashionable though... and I think stick-thin legs with huge gaps between them don't really look healthy or beautiful.

For a considerable number of boys, we can. I've been active on a sex advice forum, you wouldn't believe how many teenage boys opened threads because of penis size insecurity per day. Many of these guys would be around or above the national average, but because the penises they always saw in porn were twice as large as theirs, they believed girls wouldn't enjoy sex with their supposedly tiny man bits.

I guess the point I was trying to make is that the porn industry isn't like, only negatively affecting our perceptions of women. It can be a problem for men as well. Many things that we blame on porn could simply be an extension of other problems that have plagued society/human nature for longer.

I for one am trying to be above it all. Though it would be nice if small tits and ass were appreciated more around the world. Until then I guess my thigh gap can compensate for my lack of well, everything else. Haha. [rofl]

I think porn exacerbates a lot of problems that have been around in human society for a long time. I don't think it's an end all be all kind of cause of anything, I just don't think it helps any of the problems it's linked with. Porn is one of those things that is like humankind to me. For example most of humanity is not bad, but the the bits that are bad are bad enough to make a mess of it for everyone else.

I agree, I try not to get involved with a lot of it. I've always said if somebody cares enough about something as trivial as small boobs and a thigh gap they're not worth my time. That goes for a lot of my beliefs.

You are very right, Ely. o:

Nice debate going on in here guys, good stuff :D I do agree that porn has a negative impact on some. I worry mainly about school kids, because they have access to the kind of porn that no-one their age used to have. Teens have enough body/behavioural hang ups, and are super easily influenced enough as it is, without throwing that into the mix [sweat]

What strikes me as odd about porn and its effect on people's self image is that porn isn't even about the looks of the actors, it's about the idea. Has anyone here ever asked a guy whether he thought the girls in porn were pretty, beautiful, hot? Because most guys (if not all) I've talked with about porn don't actually find the women in it attractive. It's the idea that appeals to them. In the heat of the moment, they don't care if the actress has boobs that look glued on with huge surgery scars underneath them, all they know is they see a pair of big tits and want to stick their willies between a similar pair. They don't even remember what the actress looked like afterwards.

And that is apparently what makes people insecure. Pretty girls with small boobs think they're less attractive than pug-faced hags with large boobs, because the latter can be covered in make-up and thrown into a porn movie and horny guys will supposedly think they look hotter than the pretty girl with small boobs. When in fact they (or at least, the ones worth mentioning) don't.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. I'm supposed to think about Ovid and his works right now, so my thoughts on the subject of porn and self esteem aren't too coherent ATM. >.> Anyway, I doubt any guy who watches porn will care if the actress has a thigh gap or not.

@Jelly: I think what you're talking about is one of those really bad bits about porn that I mentioned just ruins the rest of it. I think it not only doesn't help kids with perceptions of their bodies, but I also think since a lot of the time (especially in the U.S.) kids learn about sex and sexuality from it instead of learning from good health classes...because good health classes don't exist all too often.

@Volucria: Yeah, I think I get what you're saying. I think that's probably been my point all along--most guys don't actually find that stuff attractive, but girls think they do and try to become that.

What most people aspiring to have thigh gaps don't realise is that they're not based on your weight at all but instead it's all dependant on your bone structure. A lot of girls think it's a sign of being thin so get dangerously underweight to try and get one, some not resting until they do. If you don't have wide hips you won't have a thigh gap.

Also, if you clench your leg muscles and turn your knees in for photographs it's easy to trick people into thinking you have a thigh gap (even I can do it because I have wide hips and I'm a total chubster) when in reality you don't have one at all.

Thigh gaps are possibly the most ridiculous fad I've seen in a while.

Until the next one comes along -.- I wonder what the hell that's going to be [gonk]

Very true. People will probably just try and wipe out their torsos next for a nice hip-shoulder gap. [roll]

This is why I do not understand "super skinny" jeans. I'm 5'7 and normally 110lbs, 120 now that I'm pregnant and my thighs touch. I'll take my "fat" thighs over starving myself, thanks!

I recently finished the diet I was on to take off the weight I had gained when I started working an office job. I went to the gym a lot and my legs have really thinned out but I definitely don't have a thigh gap. Whenever I see girls like that I can't help but think how bizarre it looks! I can't say I'd want to have a thigh gap but it would be nice not to have my legs chafe against each other when I wear a skirt in the summertime... >.>

Aw congratulations, Mystic! :) I love my chubby thighs so I agree with you there ha

I forgot to add that I think it's even stranger that guys are in on this trend too. I was saying how it's scary how thin kids are now a days because of things like "Super skinny" jeans.

Thanks, Vinyl! I'm super excited. Keeping my fingers crossed everything goes well this time

I defiantly think its a skeleton thing. I way 105 at max, and don't have this 'gap'. Not that I mind- honestly, I'd prefer to gain more weight, as I'd love do do things... like donate blood.
Fun fact- it is NOT in fact, in me to give.

I'm digressing.

I'd also like to point out that I eat until I'm full, usually eat when I'm hungry (sometimes I get distracted by a good book), and over all do attempt to take some care of myself. Sometimes I neglect myself out of shear laziness, but never out of an obsession to look thin

Oh, I'm also 5'4", so... yeah. I'm short, another reason why I weigh little

@Mystic: I'm a fan of skinny jeans, though there's some people that I notice wear them and their legs are so thin that the jeans are even baggy on them. D;

Aw, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you too! :) When are you due?

Having some gap is probably good but I think only if you're getting a rash from friction...

But hey... at least plumbers crack isn't popular...

Vinyl: It's more so the marketing I can't stand. It's like the marketing team for the clothing companies are saying "if you don't look skinny, it's wrong" and they seem to be pushing that even more with using terms like "super skinny".

I'm not due until the end of Feb. I just found out and everything seems okay so far [:)]

Hey. I think skinny jeans look fucking good on a curvy chick. That ass!

[feesh] This is why I'm not allowed to contribute to serious conversations.

+1

True, my booty looks fantastic in skinny jeans [cool]

@Mystic: Aw that's good news! :)

Personally, I don't find it very attractive.

Ah, it gets worse than that article describes though. Unless your bone structure is slightly abnormal, you not only have to have far less body fat than is really healthy to have a thigh gap - you also have to allow your abductor muscle to atrophy to almost nothing. Which can make basic human tasks such as walking pretty difficult.

So, it's not a realistic thing for the vast majority of people to strive for. It's not worth it. If you think that's the only way to look good, you're dead wrong - any body type can look great; it's all about confidence and wearing clothes that complement your body well.