You Too, Old Navy? Thigh Gap Strikes Again

Here we go again. Old Navy is the latest target of Internet fury after a blogger noted that a mannequin on the brand’s plus-size section of its website looked as if its thighs had been unrealistically airbrushed.

The photo in question is of a pair of legs wearing Women’s Plus The Rockstar Mid-Rise Cropped Jeans. There’s a significant white spot carved out in between the thighs that makes them appear thinner than they might normally be on a person of that size. After Jezebel pointed out the thigh gap, an Old Navy rep sent the website the following statement:

"At Old Navy we strive to show our customers the most accurate representation of how product fits the body. This includes pinning garments on body forms to show how they will actually appear. While we do remove these pins in post-production, we do not use any photo-altering techniques to deliberately distort the actual look or fit of our product."

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Regardless, Twitter exploded with criticism.

More on Yahoo: Model Transformed by Airbrushing Highlights Media Distortion of Women

Whether it’s pinning or airbrushing on mannequins or real women, people are clearly tired of too-skinny women in the media. A few weeks ago, there was an uproar over Target publishing a photo of a bikini model with cringeworthy thigh gap on the teen section of its website. In addition, one of her legs was slimmed significantly, and her arm was freakishly elongated. And while it’s unclear whether this was a case of bad airbrushing, teen brand Hollister recently removed a photo of a model from its social media pages after customers complained that her legs were “too skinny” and “emaciated.”

It begs the question: Who are brands appealing to with their overly airbrushed images if their audience doesn't like it?

"It's not that designers and advertisers don't understand that there's a disconnect between their vision and what the public wants — most know that the average woman isn't a size zero," Robyn Silverman, PhD, a body image expert and author of "Good Girls Don't Get Fat: How Weight Obsession is Messing Up Our Girls," tells Yahoo Shine. "The industry is selling an aspirational lifestyle. The message is 'You can't look this good now — but you can if you buy these clothes,' she says. "They're selling a dream."

It can be a nightmare, though, for young women who internalize the unrealistic messages that brands are sending. Around the Internet, images of models with thigh gap are used as "thinspiration," sparking concern from body image experts, such as Caryn Franklin, co-founder of the diversity campaign All Walks Beyond the Catwalk. "This culture has encouraged women to infantilize themselves," Franklin says, in an interview with the Guardian about the thigh gap trend. "When you are so fixated on approval for what you look like, you are a little girl: You haven't grown up."

Although social media watchdogs are now holding apparel companies responsible for the images they put out to the world, and in some cases, sparking change, some brands still don't get it. The problem with Old Navy's statement: The company seems more concerned with clarifying that they used pins, not airbrushing techniques, to slim its mannequin (Oh, okay). Until fashion takes responsibility for the real issue — promoting ridiculous body standards — we won't see the last of these distorted images.

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