The "Bikini Bridge" Is Instagram's Most Controversial New Hashtag

By VH1

January 10, 2014 / 2:00 PM

Bikini Bridge

What is the "bikini bridge," you ask? No, it doesn't help you get to a beach on spring break. It's a new hash tag that's sweeping Instagram like a sandstorm. We are generally pro-bikinis here at VH1 Celebrity, but this latest two-piece trend is getting some serious blowback.

For those of you who haven't heard, Urban Dictionary describes the photo pose as "when bikini bottoms are suspended between the two hip bones, causing a space between the bikini and the lower abdomen." Although the concept has been around for years, the recent resurgence is due to a hoax perpetrated by the 4Chan internet forum. The users of the message board have banded together and spammed social media with photos and hashtags, in an effort to make the bikini bridge the next big thing. And, well...it worked!

Kind of. The trend is getting some major buzz, but for all of the wrong reasons. Much like the recent "thigh gap" craze, it's seen as physically and psychologically damaging to women, idealizing an unhealthily thin physique and encouraging body anxiety and eating disorders. "The bikini bridge is just another example of horrendous thinspiration that encourages young women to develop poor body image and self-esteem," says noted health blogger Katie Lowe. This is very accurate, but we're forgetting yet another hidden hazard: Encouraging folks to have very large hip bones. Are folks going to start getting hip implants?!

[Photo: Instagram]