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Image / Editorial

Why This Mom’s Photo Of Her ‘Saggy’ Body Is Going Viral


By IMAGE
27th Mar 2015
Why This Mom’s Photo Of Her ‘Saggy’ Body Is Going Viral

In a world where the mere suggestion that images of supermodel with a trainer, carefully curated fridge and strict diet may be untouched by photoshop can garner endless internet headlines, it is refreshing to see a woman who anyone of us could know go viral for her body positivity.

Rachel Hollis is a lifestyle blogger and mother of three who last week posted a photograph of herself in a bikini on holidays in Cancun to Facebook and Instagram.

A photo posted by Rachel Hollis (@msrachelhollis) on Mar 21, 2015 at 9:21am PDT

She wrote this rather empowering caption:

?I have stretch marks and I wear a bikini. I have a belly that’s permanently flabby from carrying three giant babies and I wear a bikini. My belly button is saggy… (which is something I didn’t even know was possible before!!) and I wear a bikini. I wear a bikini because I’m proud of this body and every mark on it. Those marks prove that I was blessed enough to carry my babies and that flabby tummy means I worked hard to lose what weight I could. I wear a bikini because the only man who’s opinion matters knows what I went through to look this way. That same man says he’s never seen anything sexier than my body, marks and all. They aren’t scars ladies, they’re stripes and you’ve earned them. Flaunt that body with pride!?#HollisHoliday?

 

The photo has been liked 2385 times on Instagram and nearly 400,000 times on Facebook. That’s an empowering message that is speaking to a lot of people. The comments beneath her photo are effusive about the effect her photo has had on women around the world. Real post-baby bodies are almost anathema in a society where magazine headlines are devoted to celebrities dropping the pounds as quickly as possible after birth. It’s an unrealistic expectation to push on ordinary women, and it’s great to see someone with such a following be so incredibly proud of her body.
Thank you Rachel, a lot of women are feeling fabulous today because of you.The photo has been liked 2385 times on Instagram and nearly 400,000 times on Facebook. That’s an empowering message that is speaking to a lot of people. The comments beneath her photo are effusive about the effect her photo has had on women around the world. Real post-baby bodies are almost anathema in a society where magazine headlines are devoted to celebrities dropping the pounds as quickly as possible after birth. It’s an unrealistic expectation to push on ordinary women, and it’s great to see someone with such a following be so incredibly proud of her body.Thank you Rachel, a lot of women are feeling fabulous today because of you.ICYMI: Why losing weight did not make one writer happy.Follow Jeanne Sutton on Twitter @jeannedesutunLOVE this? Why not have IMAGE delivered directly to your door each month? Check out this month’s offer here.