Teenage girls so obsessed with copying stick-thin celebrities are starving themselves so they can achieve a 'thigh gap'.
Young women have become fixated with their legs not touching and hope to emulate the thin frames of models such as Cara Delevingne and Eleanor Calder, girlfriend of One Direction member Louis Tomlinson.
Admirers of the look - which demands legs so thin that they do not touch above the knees, have created Twitter accounts dedicated to the pair's 'thigh gap'.
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Young Twitter users say they are desperate to lose weight so they can copy the girls' look - even if it means denying themselves food.
The Daily Star said Twitter users had threatened to 'starve themselves' to reach the 'longed-for look'.
Websites promoting the desired thigh gap show thousands of images dedicated to the achievement of losing weight until they have a space between their thighs.
And young women are using social networking technology to share tips and pictures and 'inspire' each other's misguided attempts to copy their favourite celebrities.
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In April last year Alexa Chung was forced to remove a picture of her and her mother from her Instagram account after she was accused of being 'thinspiration' for vulnerable fans.
The model and presenter is known for her very slim frame, but fans felt that this picture made too much of her shockingly slim legs.
After two hours of followers having dissected her body image, Miss Chung replied to the negative commentary, writing: 'Ok everyone thanks for the teen angst discussions.'
She continued: 'People are different sizes. I'm not trying to be thinspo for anyone,' in response to accusations she is contributing to the current 'thinspiration' culture of young girls.
While opinion was divided, with many defending the former MTV host, and some openly praising her slender frame, the overwhelming response was negative.
One commenter wrote: 'I'm going to be very honest. I look at this picture and think "This is a woman not eating." Thus, I worry for women everywhere.'
Another remarked: 'THIS degree of skinny is frankly alarming, sadly.'
Miss Chung made a final reply, before deleting the post altogether: 'I am now making this acct private. Byyyyyeeee.'
Speaking to OK! about her online bullying stress, she explained: 'It basically got really nasty and they were like, "We're going to stab you."'
She continued: 'It was genuinely horrible. I stopped using Twitter for a while because I got so much s**t about being anorexic. And I'm not.'
Susan Ringwood, chief executive of eating disorder charity B-Eat, told The Daily Star: 'Hardly anyone has a thigh gap without being underweight, or not yet fully adult.'
The number of people using social networks to share 'thinspirational' images that encourage eating disorders has seen a worryingly sharp rise.
Photo-sharing website Instagram banned the use of hashtags using pro-anorexia keywords last April, it was widely praised.
But now Beat says the site still isn't doing enough.
Although users attempting to search keywords such as 'thinspiration' or 'proanorexia' can no longer do so, more than 300,000 images featuring frighteningly thin women or acts of self harm are still available on the site.
Despite removing more than 30,000 graphic photos, the site's 80 million users can still access 'thinspo' content simply by using 'eating disorder' as the search term.
source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2274227/Teenage-girls-obsessed-celebrity-thigh-gaps-starving-
Young women have become fixated with their legs not touching and hope to emulate the thin frames of models such as Cara Delevingne and Eleanor Calder, girlfriend of One Direction member Louis Tomlinson.
Admirers of the look - which demands legs so thin that they do not touch above the knees, have created Twitter accounts dedicated to the pair's 'thigh gap'.
Young Twitter users say they are desperate to lose weight so they can copy the girls' look - even if it means denying themselves food.
The Daily Star said Twitter users had threatened to 'starve themselves' to reach the 'longed-for look'.
Websites promoting the desired thigh gap show thousands of images dedicated to the achievement of losing weight until they have a space between their thighs.
And young women are using social networking technology to share tips and pictures and 'inspire' each other's misguided attempts to copy their favourite celebrities.
In April last year Alexa Chung was forced to remove a picture of her and her mother from her Instagram account after she was accused of being 'thinspiration' for vulnerable fans.
The model and presenter is known for her very slim frame, but fans felt that this picture made too much of her shockingly slim legs.
After two hours of followers having dissected her body image, Miss Chung replied to the negative commentary, writing: 'Ok everyone thanks for the teen angst discussions.'
She continued: 'People are different sizes. I'm not trying to be thinspo for anyone,' in response to accusations she is contributing to the current 'thinspiration' culture of young girls.
While opinion was divided, with many defending the former MTV host, and some openly praising her slender frame, the overwhelming response was negative.
One commenter wrote: 'I'm going to be very honest. I look at this picture and think "This is a woman not eating." Thus, I worry for women everywhere.'
Another remarked: 'THIS degree of skinny is frankly alarming, sadly.'
Miss Chung made a final reply, before deleting the post altogether: 'I am now making this acct private. Byyyyyeeee.'
Speaking to OK! about her online bullying stress, she explained: 'It basically got really nasty and they were like, "We're going to stab you."'
She continued: 'It was genuinely horrible. I stopped using Twitter for a while because I got so much s**t about being anorexic. And I'm not.'
Susan Ringwood, chief executive of eating disorder charity B-Eat, told The Daily Star: 'Hardly anyone has a thigh gap without being underweight, or not yet fully adult.'
The number of people using social networks to share 'thinspirational' images that encourage eating disorders has seen a worryingly sharp rise.
Photo-sharing website Instagram banned the use of hashtags using pro-anorexia keywords last April, it was widely praised.
But now Beat says the site still isn't doing enough.
Although users attempting to search keywords such as 'thinspiration' or 'proanorexia' can no longer do so, more than 300,000 images featuring frighteningly thin women or acts of self harm are still available on the site.
Despite removing more than 30,000 graphic photos, the site's 80 million users can still access 'thinspo' content simply by using 'eating disorder' as the search term.
source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2274227/Teenage-girls-obsessed-celebrity-thigh-gaps-starving-