Why do we still think we have a right to comment on and criticise women's pre and post-partum bodies?
It still seems like if you are a woman in the public eye, then criticism of your weight, exercise routine and diet is unavoidable. And, unfortunately, Vogue Williams is no stranger to it.
Earlier this month, the model told how trolls had attacked her for having the sheer audacity (sense our sarcasm) to exercise while she was pregnant with Theodore, who was born last September.
'I used to get comments off people saying, “I think it’s a disgrace, you need to be relaxing, you’re pregnant, you need to take the next 10 months off!” But that doesn’t suit me or my lifestyle or the way I feel about myself,’ she told Women’s Health, explaining her personal lifestyle choice.
‘I train a lot for anxiety, it makes me feel good and I like it.'
Now, Vogue - who is married to Made In Chelsea's Spencer Matthews - is being criticised for being ‘too skinny’.
Taking to her Instagram story, the TV personality shared a DM of someone proclaiming that she is ‘to [sic] thin’.
She hit back, saying, ‘I can’t tell you how annoying these messages are,’ which then led her to post a screenshot of her BMI (which is in the healthy zone).
'I keep getting messages like that. It's starting to get annoying especially because I want to show a healthy lifestyle,' she wrote, adding that she has lost weight since giving birth to her son.
'I'm 64kgs and 5'11. That is 4kgs lighter than I used to sit before I had Theodore. I can't explain why but that's where my weight comfortably sits. I train four times a week and try to eat healthily 80% of the time. Please don't send messages about my weight anymore!'
Vogue doesn’t need to justify her weight to anyone, but she especially doesn’t have to justify it after having a child - and that’s the same for any woman.
Sadly, the fascination with women’s bodies after pregnancystill prevails; how much weight they gain, and how quickly they ‘bounce back’.But still, women can’t win, because if they do lose weight they gained during pregnancy, there will always be some who think they have their priorities in the wrong place as they’re not spending every living, breathing second with their child.
Having a baby absolutely does not mean that you need to stop exercising or working out = though that’s obviously the expectation still held by some.
This article is written by Bonnie McLaren and originally appeared onGrazia Online.
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