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'Thigh gap’ concerns body-obsessed teenage girls

American teenage girls have gotten caught up in what is called the “thigh gap” obsession. The latest “thinspiration” among girls centers on the space between the upper thighs when standing with legs and knees together.

According to a report by ABC’s “Good Morning America,” a group of four high school junior girls all responded that they had friends who are obsessed with a thigh gap image. Normally, there’s no thigh gap but photos of dangerously thin actresses and models with the gap are being shared on social media sites such as Facebook.

Such images are feeding supposedly dangerous “thinspiration” to teenage girls, who want to imitate celebrities with stick-like legs.

The problem is that social networks are encouraging younger people to go on extreme diets by highlighting thin models and stars. Lynn Grefe, president and CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association said, “People with anorexia or bulimia are very competitive and such social networking services can encourage them.”

NEDA is trying to clean up potentially harmful websites and pages in cooperation with Facebook and Tumblr.

From news report

(knews@heraldcorp.com)