Legging Legs

Submission 4,686

Part of a series on Internet Slang. [View Related Entries]

About

Legging Legs is a slang term used to describe legs that are long and thin, suggesting that people with skinny, long legs and a thigh gap look the best in leggings. The term started to spread on TikTok as early as October 2023 and gained viral attention in January 2024 as women revolted against the term, suggesting that it shames women who are not skinny and that it could promote eating disorders, lead to mental health problems and make women feel insecure.

Origin

The earliest known use of the term "legging legs" on TikTok was posted by TikToker^[1] @not_jassy14 on October 7th, 2023. In the video, the user lip dubs to an audio that goes, "That's how you look when you've just woken up? Nothing in my life is fair," while displaying the caption, "When you see a girl with PERFECT LEGGINGS LEGS." The video gained over 4.9 million views in three months (shown below, left). It is unconfirmed if this is the true origin of the term.

The term gained some spread over the following months. On November 27th, TikToker^[2] @secretbrunettte posted a video about seeing girls with "legging legs," garnering over 5.1 million views in two months (shown below, right). The hashtag "#legginglegs" also started seeing use on TikTok.

Spread

In January 2024, videos about legging legs became increasingly popular, including videos calling out the term as harmful and promoting unrealistic or unhealthy body standards. On January 23rd, 2024, TikToker^[3] @sydneymarie469 posted a video captioned, "what are 'legging legs' and why is there a new insecurity on this app every week?" garnering over 7.6 million views in three days (shown below).

On January 25th, TikToker^[4] @emilyxpearl posted a video revolting against the term, suggesting the term is going to make young girls self-conscious about not having legging legs, garnering over 7.9 million views in a day (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[5] @ashleerosehartley posted a video denouncing the term, writing that "all legs are legging legs," garnering over 800,000 views in a day (shown below, right).

On January 26th, PopBuzz^[6] and the New York Post^[7] reported on the term and the backlash towards it. Discourse about the term also spread to X^[8]. On January 30th, Bloomberg^[9] reported on the term in an article titled, "Gen Z’s ‘Legging Legs’ Trend Got the TikTok Backlash It Deserved," relating the term to the idea of a "thigh gap" being desirable.

Ban From TikTok

On January 30th, 2024, multiple reports from sites including People,^[10] The Independent^[11] and Yahoo!^[12] claimed that the term "legging legs" had been banned from TikTok. Since the ban, searching the term on TikTok results in a page that reads "You're not alone" and offers a phone number for the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (shown below).