This woman used her PREGNANCY photos to make a POWERFUL point
The Internet can be a nasty place for women whose bodies don’t abide by “normal” beauty standards and as one endurance athlete recently proved that idea applies to women at both ends of the size spectrum.
By the time Brittany Aäe was 39 weeks pregnant, the fitness coach was fed up of people criticising her toned body.
Taking to Instagram, Brittany posted a photo of her heavily pregnant body beside that of plus-sized model Tess Holliday – who recently gave birth to a baby boy – to highlight that despite their very different body types and weights both women were being subject to abuse for their pregnancy figures.
She wrote: “In this image these two women are at about the same stage in their pregnancies – 39 weeks.”
“That is the gorgeous @tessholliday looking boss on the left and me with the defined abs on the right. She is a voluptuous model and I am a sinewy mountain athlete.”
“Both of us are shamed for our size – she for her roundness and me for my smallness. Both of us are having or had healthy pregnancies as validated by our healthcare providers. Both of us are making empowered choices about our personal health.”
After pointing out both the similarities and differences between herself and Tess, Brittany – who purposely documented her pregnancy fitness regime for those who were interested in staying in shape through pregnancy – asked why were they being so heavily criticised.
She said: “Why does our society shame women whose bodies do not adhere to some narrow notion of false normalcy?”
“Let's instead keep our thoughts and words about other people's size to ourselves. Pregnancy is tough enough without also being body shamed.”
Brittany – who runs the Magnetic North blog – told Elle she was sick of “the general idea that women’s bodies are somehow public property”.
We think that is something everyone is sick of. Point well made.