Credits: Social Media
‘Legging legs’ are the latest toxic beauty standard and TikTok has had enough
A new beauty standard is circling TikTok this month called ‘legging legs’ and internet users are slamming the viral trend.
Social media is spreading toxic beauty advice that causes low self-esteem, especially among young people, and it’s time for it to stop.
New beauty standard ‘legging legs’
‘Legging legs’ is the idea that your legs must look a certain way for you to be able to wear leggings. The tight-fitting, elasticated trousers are worn by people across the globe, but have somehow become the latest viral insecurity.
Every day, a new beauty standard pops up on TikTok. Whether it’s being thin, having curly hair or having defined cheekbones – there are all kinds of things people are being told to conform to in order to be considered attractive.
Now, the latest trend says you must have long, thin legs to wear leggings and look good in them. What people consider perfect ‘legging legs’ differs, but it involves things like having a thigh gap, no hip dips and no cellulite.
A trend is circling the app which sees people using a sound from the TV show Gilmore Girls where Paris Geller says: “Nothing in life is fair”. Alongside it, you write something like: “When I see a girl with perfect legging legs.”
TikTok users slam new insecurity
When you search ‘legging legs’ on TikTok, videos of people slamming the new insecurity are flooding the app.
One person wrote: “Why is ‘legging legs’ now a thing? If you have legs then you have legging legs. We are all beautiful no matter the shape, size or length of our legs and never listen to people on social media. Everyone can wear leggings.”
“This s**t has got to stop. Are you being serious? I’ve woken up this morning and legging legs is trending. Do we understand what we are doing to the younger generation? There are 15-year-old girls that wear leggings every single day that now feel like they can’t,” said another.
“Why are we starting these stupid, idiotic, toxic trends on the internet? ” a third person added. “As someone with a daughter, with a younger sister, it absolutely breaks my heart to think that at some point in their life, they think they’re not good enough to do something like wear a pair of leggings.”
Social media causes low self-esteem
A 2022 study by the Dove Self-Esteem Project surveyed more than 1,000 girls aged 10 to 17 and found that half of them think toxic beauty advice on social media causes low self-esteem. More than 7 in 10 agree that spending less time on social media would be better for their confidence.
The report explains that social media has replaced celebrities as teenagers’ “source of inspiration and entertainment” and it’s where they go for beauty advice. While social media can be empowering and show diverse representations of beauty, it also promotes toxic beauty standards.
9 in 10 girls say they follow at least one social media account that makes them feel less beautiful, and over half of girls say they cant live up to the beauty standards projected online, which are both very sad statistics.
“Toxic beauty advice normalizes unrealistic and narrowly defined beauty standards, promotes potentially harmful beauty practices (like cosmetic surgery), and suggests that the key to building self-esteem is physical ‘perfection'” Dove says.
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