Sad news for the girls who spent all of last year depriving themselves of food to get that much-desired thigh gap Tumblr told you was needed; that is so 2013. The bikini bridge is all the rage in 2014.
“What’s a bikini bridge,” you ask? A bikini bridge is when a woman is so skinny her hip bones lift the front of her bikini up when she lies down. Yep.
The internet brings both joy and grief and this time around, it’s again perpetuating what may be an unhealthy beauty ideal. The “Bikini Bridge” is the latest bit of “fit-spo” or “thin-spo,” depending how you look at it, to hit social media outlets frequented by younger demographics – such as Instagram and Tumblr. And while the web is all in a tizzy about this bikini bridge, turns out it was one big “Ha Ha” that shows us just how influenced we are by images in the media.
This past weekend, a 4chan user decided they wanted to create a new body trend and attempt to make it go viral, much like the thigh gap did. They created propaganda in favor of the trend, like fake celeb tweets supporting the bikini bridge, Buzzfeed lists and the like. Then they sipped on some nerd juice and watched the ‘net (ourselves included) go to town.
The Washington Post delved deeper into the workings of 4chan, stating:
4chan is a profoundly popular, largely anonymous message board that specializes in memes and mischief. /b/ is a 4chan forum best known for its penchant to sow stupid, occasionally dangerous, ideas across the wider Internet. The problem is that these “pranks,” as many so casually term them, can often acquire lives of their own — becoming actual trends even as we dismiss them as hoaxes.
While the bikini bridge started as something to joke about, it has actually already taken off with a Tumblr page dedicated to the “trend.” Srsly, the point is this: ladies (especially younger ones who are still developing) have enough pressure from Photoshopped images telling them what they should, and should not, look like. The trend may have begun as a hoax, but those on the quest to be every type of perfect will still attempt to glorify the imaginary ideal.
Sigh. Internet, you are such a gift and a curse. File “hot dogs or legs” under gift.
PHOTO CREDIT: Tumblr
