Nat Laurel

After reading a review of Wonder Woman on the Refinery 29 website, I lashed out at the author in the comments. The article celebrated jiggling female thighs and this is what got me going:

“When Diana [Wonder Woman] did the superhero landing, her thigh jiggled onscreen. Did you hear me? HER F–KING THIGH JIGGLED. Wonder Woman’s thigh jiggled on a 20-foot tall screen in front of everyone. Because she wasn’t there to make men drool. She wasn’t there to be sexy and alluring and flirt her way to victory, and that means she has big, muscular thighs, and when they absorb the impact of a superhero landing, they jiggle, and that’s WONDERFUL.”

I am the proud owner of jiggling thighs with cellulite and I couldn’t believe my F–KING eyes. In not very nice terms I suggested that the author check some porn sites just to see what a jiggly little place it is. Thighs, buttocks, boobs– everything jiggles in the porn industry because JIGGLY FLESH makes heterosexual males drool. Duh. Wake up, America!

Make no mistake, the major attribute of a modern woman’s sex appeal today is a pair of taught, masculine legs. It is no surprise that the article went viral, indicating public outcry.  But American feminists have just celebrated another pyrrhic victory. Heterosexual, drooling males have very little to do with installing these new sex appeal standards.

I have been in the business of dressing female thighs and childbearing hips for over a decade now and I can assure you, it is a lonely vocation. Infatuated with all things gender-bending, the fashion industry uses a hermaphroditic physique as a blueprint. The apparel industry follows suit. There are no clothes, styles, or a visual guide that helps women with childbearing hips and strong thighs look good. Gracing a body with strong thighs starts at the neckline and requires certain tailoring and fabrics that are nowhere to be found in the modern apparel market. But the fashion industry is not driven by heterosexual males. This prerogative has long moved to other groups. These are dangerous waters to swim, so no one wants to swim there, opting for the familiar pool of the “male gaze.”

Let’s take a closer look. The thigh is one of the most sexually dimorphic parts of the human body. Its flesh wraps over the largest bone of the human skeleton, unequivocally called the femur. Biology stipulates female thighs to be fleshy and jiggly-prone. Male thighs are taut, tensile, and typically don’t jiggle. Most heterosexual males find a pair of jiggly female thighs as delicious as a pair of boobs. The sentiment about jiggly thighs expressed in the article could have easily sounded like this: Did you hear me? HER F–KING BOOBS BOUNCED. Wonder Woman’s boobs bounced on a 20-foot tall screen in front of everyone. Because she wasn’t there to make men drool. She wasn’t there to be sexy and alluring and flirt her way to victory, and that means she has big boobs, and when they pick on the impact of a superhero landing, they jiggle, and that’s WONDERFUL.”

Most heterosexual men would eagerly agree that it is WONDERFUL without a lecture. Only they would be castigated for drooling yet again.

Just days after the “jiggling thigh” incident, I reposted a picture on my Instagram of J.Lawrence  in a pair of boyfriend jeans and an off the shoulder cotton top which had been featured in Vogue. She looked graceful and laid back, though the boyfriend cut did accentuate her heavy thighs. Most comments came from women who disapproved of the way her body looked in these clothes. When a month later I posted my own  laid back picture in cut-offs in the 93F, the body shaming  went unleashed.  It all came from women.

As an image consultant and a  style blogger,  I deal with women’s  most intimate fears, aspirations, and insecurities every day and I can tell you that the harshest critics of a jiggling female thigh, body shamers, and “male gaze” contributors are women themselves. Women, not men, are eager to see non-jiggling, taut, masculine thighs, because the fashion industry “says so.”

The fact that the  Wonder Woman “jiggling thigh” paragraph went viral reveals that an understanding of social and gender dynamics is completely lost. The author seeks a convincing argument against “male gaze” and ends up with the most drool-inspiring, lusty image without even realizing it. Exhausted by their own insecurities, women seek an outlet and turn men into scapegoats. This gets us nowhere. It’s time for women to turn within and exercise some radical acceptance. Perhaps, after that, even a drooling man will stop seeming so offensive and will turn into a gift of life, like a smile, sunshine, or an apple fresh cut off the tree.