How to know if your legs are #legginglegs

If you type the tag #legginglegs in the TikTok search engine, the platform does not send you any video. Instead, he sends you this message: “You are not alone. If you or someone you know is going through a difficult time, help is always available.” It is the platform's reaction to the last trend of TikTok, harmful to the mental health of women and girls, which accumulated 33 million views. The leggingslegs They are the ultimate beauty requirement tiktoker (there is no day without a new insecurity) and they represent another warning about the price to pay, in matters of mental health, for inhabiting a female body. Let's analyze the trend.

First of all, we will explain the challenge. Just put on some leggings and check if, by doing so, a gap opens between the thighs of the wearer. That is, the challenge [reto] It is a kind of test to find out if your legs are (or are not) correct. And girls and young women star in 100% of the videos I have been able to see. When you first see the game, it will most likely seem idiotic to you. But if you join the trend, you will see if you have (or not) good leggings. If it turns out yes, you may feel a pinch of satisfaction. But if it turns out not, a new insecurity will begin to brew. You will know that your legs are not good enough.

This trend (like so many others) is dangerous to health and is directly related to eating disorders and body insecurity. Therefore, because it represents a reportable and compensable risk, the platform has decided to eliminate the #legginglegs tag and all associated content. However, for some reason, others with the same content like #leggingleg or #legginglegtrend are still active. Basically, because no one regulates the content with which the platforms intoxicate their users, except themselves. And its main interest is not adolescent or child well-being, but rather the bottom line. For this reason, TikTok has not removed any of the more than 64 million makeup tutorials for all ages, with makeup routines. skincare (skin care) that have become an obsession among girls between six and ten years old around the world. Reputation matters, but commercial exploitation matters more.

However, we cannot fall into the trap of thinking that the problem of body perception in women and girls is exclusive to social networks. Millennials have already suffered from the problem of #legginglegs or diet culture and they are now warning the young generation Z about their risks. Because, although networks increase the risks to girls' mental health, the truth is that what is really dangerous is not using one technology or another, but rather inhabiting a female body in our society. That is why anxiety, depression and eating disorders are more prevalent among girls, as pointed out this week by the Global burden of disease study. The leggingslegs They are just the tip of the iceberg. But ignoring it means sinking the ship of thousands of girls who are going to wear the happy clothes. leggings looking for the damn hole between her thighs.

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