The Bikini Bridge fitness trend has been popping up everywhere and many people are buying into it. The Bikini Bridge is when “the bikini bottoms are suspended between the two hip bones, causing a space between the bikini and the lower abdomen.” While photos of people showing of their Bikini Bridges have been shared on social networks for several months now, the new fad may actually be a hoax instead of a fitness trend.

An image sharing board called 4chan is responsible for the fitness hoax. An anonymous user explained how the hoax would work, “Create propaganda parading the ‘bikini bridge’ to be the next big thing (pic related — that read “If you have time to complain, you have time to train,” or “Getting a smoother tan line from your bikini bridge”). Circulate it throughout the internet. Simultaneously, we create reverse propaganda, denouncing the bikini bridge as an unhealthy obsession. This, too, we circulate throughout the internet.”

The second part of the hoax was a little easier and much more cruel. The site and users targeted websites and social network pages that were designed to make overweight people feel bad about themselves. The photos were shared on these sites as well as fitness, health and motivational sites.

The users behind the hoax relied on the women who frequent these sites and pay close attention to body image to share the photos and spread them across the Internet. If you think this is a harmless hoax, think again. Psychologists warn that images and trends that display unachievable results can cause women to become depressed and develop body image problems and even eating disorders.

“Thanks to social media, it’s easy for something like this to become a trend so quickly and it’s just another example of the objectification of women and their bodies,” Louise Adams, a clinical psychologist who specializes in eating disorders and body image told The Sydney Morning Tribune. “Social media creates competitiveness between other women. We know this largely effects younger women and this is exactly who is using these sites. This is a generation who has grown up with social media and at the same time, eating disorder figures have doubled.”

What do you think of the Bikini Bridge?

Image via YouTube.