Brittany Aäe is an endurance athlete and coach. She also recently became a mother and was surprised by the comments that were made about her figure during pregnancy.Elle reports that she took to her Instagram account last month to hit back at those who felt the need to pass judgement on her body shape, specifically her smallness.
As well as posting the image below, which shows her and model Tess Holliday at around 39 weeks, she pleaded with people to stop body-shaming.
“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... 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. #effyourbeautystandards#momshame”
The post got a positive reaction with many women praising her for speaking out and echoing her sentiment. One commented: "Such a wonderful post! Thank you for sharing! Both of you beautiful mommas ROCK!"
Another wrote: "I love this!! Both so beautiful and both carrying life. I carried small as my mom did as well. It was quiet hard to constantly explain to people I was eating more than enough food and very healthy.
"I had to battle some shame that would head my way. This is a great post to show that mamas varying babies come in all shapes and sizes!"
