Lego My Leggings

Social media, a TikTok obsession

unsound influence

meets mass appeal

female faction, one girl’s confession

markets beauty

to a size ideal

fashion, leggings to include jeggings

convenient, comfy

smooth, soft, space-saving

attracts girls, young and old

prints, pastels, bold and plain

black is a favorite, worth all the raving

yet, the perfect wearer

worth eye staring

has a gap between her thighs

in other words, standing upright

with feet together, a space up top

equals perfection — a dumb surmise

...

Ergo ego and stupid standards

continue to dictate a female’s worth

women, teens, and even tweens

absorb the crap the web puts forth

clap clap clap —

I am clapping back

silence is not the voice I claim

body image, beauty, attraction

at any cost — is not my game

self-esteem sewn in stitchings

fabrics, get-ups, TikTok setups

marketed on a worldwide screen

fragile-minded, often blinded

susceptible to practices

most times unclean

healthy one

comes undone

diet, try it, but keep it quiet

mental anguish for the perfect size

leaps and bounds

heaps of lies

I despise —

despise convictions most untrue

...

You —

are enough just as you are

beautiful

blessed

unique

wear what you will

what you want

size two to twenty-two

who cares

slim, trim, thicker, bigger

let not social media

influence self-worth

shame you

trigger

breakdown, meltdown

prompt unwise tactics

all to achieve the “perfect size”

My poem reflects on the recent TikTok craze about legging legs and the thigh gap, a ridiculous notion that having one is desirable and worthy of only people with a particular body type.

The thigh gap phenomenon received a media craze in 2012 after a Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, that featured models with noticeable thigh gaps. Social Media picked up the images and widespread thinspiration blogs followed.

Much like other fads, legging legs are potentially harmful to women and young girls promoting the ideology that beauty equals particular denominators. Influencers, often idolized by the attention they receive provide a false concept of attractiveness which negatively impacts impressionable viewers leading to depression, eating disorders, self-harm, and exaggerated tactics to fit in or comply with a particular standard.

I am five foot one and weigh 124 and I do NOT have a thigh gap. I have muscular legs from years of sports, including my time as a dancer (an exotic one), and do not give a diddly doo about not having one.

At 52 years young, I’ve also had weight issues much of my life being underweight. I cannot tell you how many times people teased me, belittled me, or tried to feed me. Since 2020, I have sustained a healthy weight after the removal of a rare benign tumor which likely was related to a decades-long struggle.

I do not use TikTok but have daughters who do. I do not support these types of fads or harmful crazes to our women and daughters, their bodies, and their mental health.

Reports state that “Leggings Legs,” is banned now on TikTok replaced with a link to eating disorders.

My best advice: if you like leggings then wear them. In my thirties, a woman once told me that anyone after twenty-nine should not wear them. I replied, “Leggo my leggings.”

Clapping back for all tweens, teens, and women because I have no problem digging through the trash so we can sort it out together!

So, get a leg up, girl, and say it with me: “Leggo my leggings.”

...

Originally published on 2/02/2024 in New Writers Welcome, a publication I edit for on Medium.