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Dublin: 13 °C Thursday 7 November, 2024

A new Mam shared a selfie in her 'nana undies' to make a point about body shaming

“Screw what society wants from me. This is what’s on offer.”

MEET MEL RYMILL.

The Australian woman recently had a child and last week, she had her first session with a personal trainer.

As soon as they started, the personal trainer said something that irked Rymill.

…the first thing she said to me was “Obviously you want to get back to your pre-baby weight”. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

Rymill wasn’t impressed and politely informed her that that wasn’t her primary objective.

I corrected her nicely by simply saying “my goal is to regain my core strength and endurance…I’m not worried by how my body looks, only how it functions…it can be pretty badass”.

When she got home she posted this selfie…

12235054_10156244371815511_937557017941166105_n Mel Rymill / Facebook Mel Rymill / Facebook / Facebook

And a pretty incredible status about body image.

But it got me thinking. Post pregnant women are told they look good if they return to their pre-baby body quickly leading to the assumption that they look bad if the keep the extra weight.
Skinny people are envied for their lack of fat or shamed for apparently starving themselves. Voluptuous women are either labelled fat and shamed or they’re labelled brave for being comfortable in their own skin. There is always pressure.
No one is comfortable in their own skin 100% of the time. Constantly labelling people and piling expectations associated with these labels on them is harmful to everyone…including those doing the labelling.

She delivered this message to body shamers.

So here I am. I may not be magazine ready, my nana undies and bedtime nursing bra are certainly not going to be rocking a runway anytime soon, my hair is greasy, I have no makeup on, my body is squishy and plentiful, I’m not even sure I’m totally ok.
But I am strong. My body is healthy. Hell, I am badass as f**k! Screw what society wants from me. This is what’s on offer.

*applause*

Rymill’s status has been shared thousands of times and she’s inspired other women to share their own #badassundies selfies.

<3

This little kid just wrote his Mam a ‘ticket’ for being on her phone too much >

Here’s why Taylor Swift has been accused of ‘endangering’ rare birds >

Author
Amy O'Connor
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