Spread legs

Woman standing slightly bent over with spread legs.

Animation created by Gauis Marius.

Legs spread

Spread legs or open(ed) legs refers to poses in which a person's legs are not together (so that the knees are touching or close to one another) but spread so that the knees are apart. Usually "spread legs" means the feet are apart too, but there are also poses where the knees are apart but the feet/ankles are together. These, too, will be called "spread" or "open" positions here.

The hip joint allows the legs to be opened or closed forward/backward or sideways, and this can be done in a variety of poses such as standing, sitting, kneeling, lying on one's back, lying face-down, legs up in the air, etc.

Legs together

Legs together is the opposite of Legs spread. They can be tied with rope, restrained (with a leg binder) or simply moved into or held in that position by command.

Different connotations

Depending on the situation, spread legs can symbolize:

physical strength, fitness, self-confidence
freedom, disregard of modesty
exposedness, helplessness
lewdness, readiness for sexual activities

Strength, self-confidence

A person or character may stand, sit or lie with spread legs to express that he or she is not afraid of opening his/her crotch, because they have nothing to fear. Stances in which the feet are apart are also stronger, more stable and allow for faster and stronger reaction, e.g. in a fight. "Strong" characters, e.g. superheros, typically take such stances.

Freedom, disregard of modesty

When a girl spreads her legs while seated, her inner thighs and underwear may show if she is wearing a short dress or skirt. Such a thing is traditionally disapproved, and girls are therefore traditionally trained to always keep their legs properly closed when seated, and to pay attention to the hem of their skirt covering their thighs tidily.

Such training was particularly strict in the Victorian and Edwardian era. An intended side-effect was to make girls generally more shy about their 'unmentionable' body regions. An unintended side-effect is that such training may draw particular awareness to exactly those regions.

Exposedness, helplessness

On the other hand, it can be very humiliating and embarrassing for a person to be instructed or made to open their legs, e.g. for an inspection or for punishment such as a spanking or an enema.

A particularly strong effect is achieved when Victorian prudishness and exactingness in everyday life is combined with Victorian punishment methods that pay no regard at all to the child's modesty. A girl who is raised in a strict anti-carnal environment, always instructed to keep her legs together when standing or sitting, and her skirt firmly down so that her thighs won't show, will feel the double embarrassment when she is put in a punishment situation, over her governesses knees with her undergarments, or even her bare buttocks, exposed for a spanking. And the shame she feels is tripled when she is made to open her legs in this humiliating exposed position.

The same, of course, applies to boys.

Lewdness, sexuality

Spread legs poses are also extremely common in pornography, because they provide full view of the model's (usually female) genitals and invite sexual activities such as intercourse or masturbation.

In pornography, the most common erotic pose is that of a woman lying on her back, with her legs spread wide open, in a view that shows her thighs, genitals, and face. Somewhat less common are poses on-all-fours position with her legs spread apart, offering a rear view of her genital region.

Male models, too, often spread their legs in pornographic pictures, so that not only their penis but also their scrotum is in view.

In cases where the model's anus is of interest, either the front or the rear view can be used, but the legs have to be spread, otherwise the anus will be hidden in the crack of the buttocks.

Spread legs in spanking and BDSM

Spread legs expose a spankee more and give better access to his/her inner thighs, genital and anal region. Spread legs also make clenching the buttocks more difficult. A number of spanking positions instruct or physically force the spankee to open his/her legs, such as:

the half-standing position with spread legs
the leaning position with spread legs
the bent-over position with spread legs
the grabbing-ankles position with spread legs
the lunge position with spread legs
the knees-and-chest position with spread legs
the straddling position
the bent-over-object position with spread legs (e.g. straddling a birching horse)
the lying position with spread legs (e.g. on a bed or a spreadeagle table)
the bongo position
the handstand position with spread legs

In BDSM, very often the bottom's legs are kept apart via bondage, using ankle cuffs, rope, or items such as spreader bars. The legs can also be kept open by other means such as figging.

Straddling position, illustration by Franco.
A woman restrained with bondage cuffs and a spreader bar in a spreadeagle position.
Painting of a girl spreading her legs liberally (by Balthus).

Articles related to commands(s)

Spanking positions
Assume the position Bending over Bending over back of chair position Bent-over position Bent-over-object position Bongo position Diaper position Frontal over-the-lap position Grabbing-ankles position Half-standing position Hands-behind-back position Hands-on-knees position Hands-on-head position Handstand position Head-between-legs position Horsed position Knee-chest position Kneeling position Kneeling-in-a-chair position Leaning position Lunge position Lying position Objectives of spanking positions On-all-fours position Over the lap Over two laps Over-one-knee position Over-the-knee position Plow position reverse chair position Side-of-bed position Sitting-with-bottom-out position Spanking position Spread legs Spreadeagle Standing on one leg Standing position Standing-between-legs position Straddling position Touching-toes position Tucked-under-the-arm position Two spankees OTK Underarm position Waist-between-legs position

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