TikTok's 'Legging Legs' Controversy, Explained
TikTok's new "legging legs" trend, which blew up on the platform in the last few days of January 2024, has created quite a stir following concerns about perpetuating unhealthy physical ideals for young women. The trend went viral after young women began posting videos of themselves posing in leggings to highlight toned legs and notable thigh gaps. The implication? That you should only wear leggings if they highlight those specific traits, excluding everyone who doesn't have a thigh gap.
This instantly sparked outrage, with people claiming that it spreads toxic and unrealistic beauty standards, which pose a risk to women and young girls everywhere. And the science backs up this concern. According to a 2023 study published in PLOS Global Public Health, social media can lead to poor body image, mental health issues, and eating disorders. As such, the general response to these videos has been pretty unanimous, with many individuals condemning those who have created these videos while expressing their disgust with social media for creating the environment for such harmful trends to become so popular in the first place.
"Do we understand what we are doing to the younger generation?" TikTok user @emilyxpearl asks in a viral video that's gained more than 11 million views. "Do we understand that there are 15-year-old girls that wear leggings every single day that now feel that they cannot wear leggings because they don't have 'leggings legs'?" Similar videos have since been shared online to put an end to this trend before it progresses into another pillar of the "ideal" body type.
If you need help with an eating disorder or know someone who does, help is available. Visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or contact NEDA's Live Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You can also receive 24/7 Crisis Support via text (send NEDA to 741-741).
Has the damage already been done?
Many have slammed this toxic trend with call-out videos to educate people on the dangers of perpetuating unattainable ideals. For example, TikTok influencer Mik Zazon (@mikkzazon) explained in a video, "People who have thigh gaps only have them because of their genetics ... now we have young girls out there who think that they were born wrong."
After all, people are worried that the "legging legs" trend is sending the wrong message to the younger generations, primarily Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and an alarming number of comments on these videos demonstrate the damage this trend has already caused to young women and girls. For instance, on another video, one user commented, "[I] honestly believe my life would be easier if I was 75 lbs lighter."
Among the users pushing back is @ashleerosehartley, who posted a video with overlaid text to remind people that "all leggings are legging legs." On Ashlee's video, which has amassed over 2 million views, one user commented, "I have been crying for the past 4 hours bc I don't have 'legging legs' and my bf has been trying to comfort me the entire time." Comments like this display the impact that "legging legs" videos have had on people despite how many videos are decrying the trend. Exposure to this ideal has affected these individuals, consciously or not, and could lead to issues with self-esteem and body image that could have been completely avoided had this trend never happened.
Millennials feel history may be repeating itself
Meanwhile, millennials on TikTok have expressed concern that this fad is simply a revival of the "thigh gap" trend of the 2010s. For many, the thigh gap fad is a painful blast from the past that led to the development of unhealthy eating habits among those who felt pressured to lose weight to achieve this impossible standard.
"I did not survive the 2010s to be in this predicament again like i'm not even grown yet let me liveee," one user posted in the comment section of therapist Holly Essler's (@empoweringyou.therapy) TikTok video. This only demonstrates that, while many have learned from past trends, this modern take on the thigh gap obsession proves equally dangerous to older generations, especially with the powerful influence of social media platforms such as TikTok now contributing to the mix.
TikTok's solution to this trend so far has seen it ban the hashtag #legginglegs amid the whirlwind of complaints from its users. Now, the hashtag's search results redirect you to a page that contains contact information for the National Eating Disorder Information Centre and resources to better understand eating disorders. But what can we do? We can act like the TikTok heroes who got this hashtag scrubbed and collectively work to end the cyclical nature of unrealistic body goals. Body positivity should never be a fad that gets left behind for thigh gaps every few years.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.