'Bikini Bridge': Here's What's Ticking Everybody Off

Been to Bikini Bridge yet? It's a hell of a place--one where a woman's hip bones protrude sharply enough to create an over-tummy span of stretchy fabric, perfect for skinny selfies that get Twitter worked into a collective, body-shaming frenzy.

What am I talking about? Good question. Before this morning I was innocent, too.

But then came the flood of #bikinibridge tweets, and the Daily Dot's story of an Internet hoax, and at least one shamefully clueless body-image story, and well, here's the deal: "Bikini bridge" (which truly is the name for the aforementioned hip-bone span, apparently), like "thigh gap," is a thing, at least within certain slender-lady circles. There's even a Tumblr to prove it. But the concept hadn't had its moment in the sun, so to speak, until some pranksters at the social media site 4chan got involved.

That's where, according to the Daily Dot, some anonymous /b/ (random imageboard) users had the bright idea to hijack Twitter with a flood of posts about the fad, just for kicks, but with an aim that was two-fold: First, to get people buzzing about it, and second, to get people angry about it. And, thanks to some 4chan users with massive Twitter followings, it worked. Bloggers ranted, Twitter users raved, and a BuzzFeed user went full-on pro-ana with "12 Perks of Having a Bikini Bridge," such as "You're irresistible to cute boys" and "Constant compliments!"

Now everyone's scrambling to figure out whether it was really all a hoax or not, though a slew of 4chan posts on the topic like "Bravo gentlemen, bravo," and "Oh my god /b/ has done it again" make it pretty clear that it was. The folks involved seem to mainly be men who are either evil ("The reason behind this is to cause a massive uproar about bikini bridges and hopefully lead girls to anorexia") or bored ("Do whatever to ensure it's getting attention for both lovers and haters. Getting feminists on this would help out a lot").

OK guys, so here I am, and honestly? The hoax? Not so funny. Just sadly, scarily plausible.

Honestly, it doesn't even matter if it's true or not, but how readily we can all believe it. If "thigh gap" is depressingly real, then why not "bikini bridge"? I mean, why not "collar-bone crevasse" while we're at it? Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents, and the mortality rate associated with the disorder is 12 times higher than the death rate associated with all causes of death for females who are 15 to 24 years old. So really, 4chan trolls, thanks anyway, but it seems girls already have all the help getting there that they need.