TikTok’s ‘Septum Arms’ Glitch Quickly Became a New Way To Body Shame Women

If you thought the “legging legs” TikTok trend was bad, wait until you hear about “septum arms.” The nonsensical term was accidentally created due to a TikTok glitch, but somehow, users managed to twist the words around to body shame women for having arms.

While TikTok has produced many harmless trends, it has also become notorious for promoting impossible beauty standards. Recently, the platform had to ban the term “legging legs,” which was essentially a trend that claimed only women with thigh gaps could wear and look attractive in leggings. It’s not even anatomically possible for the vast majority of women to have thigh gaps, raising the possibility of women and girls resorting to extreme and dangerous lengths to achieve the impossible. Although TikTok eventually acted to stop the trend, body shaming and promotion of impossible beauty standards still remain rampant on the platform.

The body shaming culture on TikTok is so bad that users instantly assumed the made-up word septum arms was meant to refer to women with undesirable arms.

What are septum arms?

As an increase of videos about ‘septum arms’ arrives on users’ “For You Page,” they’re bound to question what on Earth septum arms are. They’ll be hard-pressed to find a standard definition because there actually isn’t any such thing as septum arms. Unlike legging legs, the term “septum arms” wasn’t even created by a TikTok user. Instead, it was just the result of a TikTok algorithm glitch. On popular videos, TikTok will sometimes include a suggested search, which is essentially what the platform believes viewers of the video are be likely to search for. Usually, the suggested search is related to the subject of the video.

However, it appears the algorithm glitched in a video by user @orlandospeciality. Ironically, the video that sparked septum arms was against body shaming. In the video, @orlandospeciality shows himself looking disgusted at someone who is making fun of a woman’s arms. Even though there were no mentions of “septum,” the suggested search was “septum arms.” In a comment, @orlandospeciality confirmed it was just an error, writing, “Yeah, they glitched the search ai.” So, a TikTok glitch created septum arms. 

Even though it’s not a real term, users instantly began speculating on what septum arms were. Eventually, they decided it was a negative term for women with large upper arms. Some have claimed that it describes women who have “wings” on their upper arms. However, others have claimed that it refers to anyone whose upper arms expand when they put them down, resting against one’s side. Of course, none of these definitions make sense. It’s completely normal for one’s upper arms to be bigger than their lower arms. Additionally, since there is a bit more fat and muscle in the upper arm, everyone’s upper arms look bigger when pushed up against their side, just like how everyone’s thighs expand when they sit down.

It doesn’t matter that septum arms are just literal arms. Users instantly jumped on the trend with a bunch of men complaining that septum arms are gross and they’d never date a woman with septum arms. After hearing all the negativity and learning what septum arms were, countless women made videos discussing the trend’s impact on them. Many described the trend as unlocking a new insecurity or giving a term to an insecurity they already struggled with. These women are forced to carry around yet another insecurity just because a bunch of whiny grown men don’t know how female bodies work or can’t handle women having bigger biceps than them.

Fortunately, many women began clapping back at the body shamers, either reiterating that septum arms don’t exist or telling all the crybaby men that they’re going to start proudly showing, flapping, and jiggling their arms all over the place. If women showing their arms scares men, then that’s all the more reason to do it.

Septum arms never existed; they were just a glitch. However, men are so desperate to make women feel bad about being human and having bodies that they somehow twisted it into something negative. People seem so confused and shocked by the revelation that women have typical human arms, that women certainly should start showing their arms more since society apparently needs a refresher on what women look like.