Everyone has "Leggings Legs"
The newest TikTok fad is poorly disguised fatphobia
What’s the deal with the “leggings legs” TikTok trend?
It’s really not important because everyone has leggings legs and we should celebrate that as often as possible. Your legs are AMAZING!
Think about everywhere those legs have carried you. They’re awesome. And that is something worth celebrating!
Welcome to Self-Love Sundays. The theme for February 2024 is all about love for the most important person in the world: the one you see in the mirror.
The next episode of La Vida Más Chévere drops the day before Valentine’s Day, a day that most connect with romantic love. But as someone who was perpetually single for 34 years, I can honestly say I spent a lot of Valentine’s Days alone but never lonely.
How did I manage that? Look, I’m not going to lie to you; it wasn’t always easy. But I’ll take any opportunity to love the woman in my mirror, especially when it’s hard.
My guest Monica had something to say about that recently:
Becoming Your Own Bestie with Monica Rivera
(You’ll see more from Monica this week here on Substack. In the meantime ⤵️)
One easy way you can love yourself today is by slapping on a pair of leggings and spending the day in comfort.
Or take it up a level by showing off those panty lines and wearing a shirt that doesn’t cover your ass.
Is that last one too much? I get it. One of the toxic cultural norms that have us all kinds of fucked up is the idea that leggings are meant to be worn under clothes.
How about no?
Instead of buying into society’s idea that shames people for the clothes we wear (hence, “leggings legs”), let’s celebrate the bodies we’ve developed.
On that topic, here’s an edited excerpt from a 2019 essay about this very subject. Unfortunately this subject is still all too relevant. For the whole post featuring women of all sizes, check out the befittingly titled Leggings ARE Pants, Dammit!
Leggings ARE Pants, Dammit!
Some people think it’s downright scandalous to wear leggings without a shirt to cover one’s derriere. Yet it’s okay for the same body to wear a shirt tucked into any other version of pants?
After all the hell that women have endured for the right to wear pants—and STILL have to fight for in 2019—you’d think we wouldn’t then try to police them about what constitutes “pants.”
Editor’s note: for the British readers, in this context pants = trousers, not underwear. This is a very important distinction for later.
To give a clear departure point about what pants are, here’s a definition from Wikipedia:
worn from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately
That covers a large spectrum of bottom-wear doesn’t it? Straight leg pants? Absolutely. Baggy hammer pants? Hilarious, yet still okay. Jeans? Yes.
But form-fitting, curve-conforming leggings? The horror!
So let me put this plainly: leggings are pants.
Was that not clear? Okay let’s try it again: leggings ARE pants.
Once more for the back row: LEGGINGS ARE PANTS.
Why is this even a discussion? The pushback I’ve seen falls into 3 different categories:
Leggings are hosiery and meant to be worn under clothing.
Leggings (and yoga pants) are meant only for athletic use.
Fat people shouldn’t wear leggings.
That last one really makes the blood boil. And look, if you don’t want to wear leggings, you do not have to. But if you do, and you want to treat them as pants, then I’m here for you!
But let’s tackle what really drives the “leggings legs” trend. Unsurprisingly, it’s that ol’ patriarchal toxicity.
Fat People Shouldn’t Wear Leggings
Fat people get told they should or shouldn’t do a LOT of things. And from one fat person, we’re fed up about it.
The catalyst for this post was a question in a sewing group on Facebook if she could wear a new woven t-shirt pattern with leggings. I emphatically said yes, as did the designer, who included the line, “because I’m in the ‘leggings are pants’ camp.”
And whoa Nelly! What a debate that started! So many people said it was fine as long as she lengthened the shirt to cover her butt.
🤦😡🤬
In a different group on a different day, another unsuspecting woman asked about styling leggings and if she was too old to pull it off. Bless her innocent heart. This sparked a much nastier debate.
One person had the audacity to claim that she was in her 70s and still wore leggings, but she only weighs 115 pounds. Another agreed with her and said she couldn’t believe that woman would leave the house with their cellulite and rolls out on display. She actually had the balls to say that some fat people must obviously not have mirrors at home if they couldn’t see how awful they looked. She used her mother as an excuse for thinking this way, that this is how she was “taught.”
Clearly, her mother failed to teach her good manners. And skipped right past the golden rule, too!
What these people don’t get is that when women start hating on other women, the patriarchy wins.
A 2015 Fortune article contained this quote, because this very prevalent and treacherous belief belies one thing:
the misogynistic attitude [is] that women’s bodies are dangerous and must be concealed.
Colleen Kane, Fortune.com
So I have to ask: why?
Why do we need to cover our butts to wear leggings? Why do 5 extra inches of shirt fabric suddenly turn a pair of pants from scandalous to acceptable?
I’m guessing it’s the fat jiggle.
Why is the jiggle of cellulite such a horror to one’s eyes? Guess what, everyone has it. Except for the .01% of people blessed (or cursed?) with different genes, we all have cellulite. I’m willing to bet that even the 115-pound septuagenarian does. And even if she doesn’t, her skin definitely isn’t as firm as it once was and jiggles just the same.
When did we all buy into the hype that if we don’t have a thigh gap that we don’t deserve to show off our rear ends?
Look, if you want to hide your butt under a tunic-length shirt, that is absolutely your prerogative. But do it because you want to not because society is telling you that you have to.
Stop subscribing to the limiting belief that your body is ugly or that it has to be hidden away under loose garments. It’s just a body, and it’s yours and it’s pretty incredible because it’s unlike anyone else’s at all.
So this Sunday, love yourself by caring for that beautiful body of yours that has been with you for your entire life. Give it rest, nourish it, and remind that brain inside your body that you deserve to love yourself, too.
And if you’re feeling up to it, pull on a pair of leggings (bonus points if they have pockets!) and do whatever it is you were gonna do anyway.
Leggings for everyone!
Do you have a favorite way to love yourself?
My Instagram followers submitted a whole slew of easy and routine ways to practice self-love. I’ll mention them on the next episode of La Vida Más Chévere. If you’d like your ideas included, post them in the comments.
LVMC the podcast comes out every other Tuesday and is available on all podcast platforms, including YouTube.
And that’s a burrito!🌯🌯🌯