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Parenting

02nd Oct 2017

This picture teaches us a very important lesson about mum-shaming

'My privacy was violated'.

Orlaith Condon

One post has become a lesson in how dangerous mum-shaming can be.

With constant access to cameras and the internet, these days, it has become all too easy for people to share their feelings online.

However, not all posts have a positive impact. In fact, many of them can be quite destructive and upsetting.

One person who learned that was Molly Lensing.

In 2016, Molly became the victim of an online attack after one man shared a picture of her and her then two-month-old daughter in the airport.

The picture has since resurfaced on other pages, and has led to fresh attacks on the mother-of-three.

“Albert Einstein said, ‘I fear the day that technology will take on our humanity… the world will be populated by a generation of idiots’,” read a recent reposting of the picture.


The picture showed Molly on her phone while her daughter lay on a blanket on the floor of an airport.

While many in the comments turned on Molly initially, the story behind the picture soon emerged and the tide of public opinion changed.

“We had the unfortunate luck of being stuck in the middle of the Delta computer shut-down,” she told TODAY.

“Anastasia had been held or in her carrier for many hours. My arms were tired and she needed to stretch.

“And I had to communicate with all the family members wondering where the heck we were.

“I absolutely feel as thought my privacy was violated.”

Social media users have since quickly turned on those sharing the picture, attacking them for mum-shaming.