Susie O’Brien: Rebecca Judd’s baby shower selfie cops backlash — but I say, back off haters
WHY is it okay to heap body shaming abuse on someone who just happens to be tall and super skinny while they’re pregnant, asks Susie O’Brien.
Opinion
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WHEN I was pregnant I looked a bit like an Ewok.
I was short, round and furry in some pretty interesting places.
No one dared to body shame me; I was more likely to attract clucks of concerned sympathy.
So why is it okay to heap abuse on someone who just happens to be tall and super skinny while they’re pregnant?
I’m talking, of course, about Rebecca Judd, broadcaster and wife of former Carlton captain Chris Judd.
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Judd hosted a baby shower last week to celebrate the upcoming arrival of her baby twin boys.
The shower itself was a restrained and tasteful affair with guests in black who appeared to be colour matched to balloons floating in the pool.
But it’s a selfie that Judd posted at the end of the day that’s got everyone talking — and no one seems to be saying anything nice.
Wearing a stretchy Dion Lee knitted dress, Judd posed side on, showing both her slim figure and blossoming baby bump.
It’s an arresting image, and a reminder of the infinite capacities of the female human body.
It received more than 15,000 likes on Judd’s own Instagram page and was declared by many of her followers to be “absolutely stunning” and “divine”.
When the photo was published to a wider audience, the backlash was swift and venomous.
Commentators — many of whom didn’t seem to know who she was — called Judd vain, scary, malnourished and a “stick insect”.
“Eat a burger. You are too thin to be carrying twins or is that part of your vanity?” said one.
Some said things like: “How can she feed the twins as it looks like she needs food herself!” and “Tapeworm, tumour ..... overshare”.
Others questioned the selfie culture: “You have had two kids why do you need a baby shower? Oh yeah so you and your fake friends can post selfies of each other all day long!”
So let’s be very clear about is going on here.
Unlike some mummy bloggers, Judd wasn’t suggesting other women should look like her.
She wasn’t pushing weight-loss products for pregnant women or some 15-week pregnancy healthy plan.
She wasn’t shaming other pregnant women who don’t look as if they’ve popped a basketball up their skirt.
Judd was merely sharing a photo of her lovely bump with her social media followers.
Now, I generally think that people in the public eye who put photos of themselves on social media are fair game.
However, I was shocked and upset that people were being so rude and mean to a pregnant woman.
But what can we expect from a toxic social culture where a woman like PR boss Roxy Jacenko, who has breast cancer, is accused of merely vying for sympathy?
If we’re that mean about someone who’s got cancer, what hope do we have of showing respect to someone carrying twins?
Now I can understand that Judd is part of a certain group of media personalities who share carefully-styled selfies with their large social media base.
Judd’s images are often linked to the promotion of a brand or company she’s working with. I’ve commented on this myself in the past.
But so what? This is the way companies are increasingly marketing themselves these days.
Judd is one of the best in the game, with 520,000 Instagram followers lavishing praise and adoration on every post — and rushing out to buy the products she endorses.
Such success always brings out the knockers, and it’s no surprise that Judd was subjected to the same scrutiny when she was pregnant previously.
She had this to say after her daughter Billie’s birth: “I’m never sick, am super fertile, have delivered 2 x big, healthy babies, have the energy to work a million jobs and have ALWAYS looked like this”.
She’s right. Let’s give this girl a break, and let her get on with her pregnancy in peace.
— Follow News at Suse on Facebook and @susieob on Twitter and read more opinion articles
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