OPINION: Why we need more photos like this
IT WAS refreshing to see a simply sensational and seemingly innocuous picture of a mum in a bikini go off like a cracker this week.
IT WAS so refreshing to see a simply sensational and seemingly innocuous picture of a mum in a bikini go off like a cracker this week.
Rachel Hollis, a mother of three from L.A., posted a photo of her bikini body, taking pride and complete ownership of her post baby belly and stretch marks.
The picture shows the normal, everyday results of being human. Of being a female who has given birth and hasn’t found the need to conform to the ridiculous “getting my pre-baby body back’ schtick that surrounds so many of us.
But isn’t it a shame we still have to herald this happy but fairly ordinary photo as something extraordinary?
“I have stretch marks and I wear a bikini,” Hollis, 32, wrote on Facebook. “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.”
Great stuff.
But doesn’t it seem mad that anyone, whether it’s Rachel Hollis, you or me has to make a point of pointing out pride in our flabby bits?
Shouldn’t we be at a point where we just ‘are what we are’? Wobbly, floppy bits and all?
I guess we are so used to seeing filtered and airbrushed images of celebs that when we do see au natural shots of anyone we have to announce it to the world and wear it like a badge of honour.
On a recent trip to Hawaii the voluptuous hip hop star and model Amber Rose Instagrammed some fantastic shots of herself relaxing on the sand.
But once you see similar pictures, that a pesky photographer took on the same day at the same beach, you realise ... baam! Rose had filtered the heck out of the ones she had posted herself.
What a shame she felt the need to do that as she has a gorgeous body as it is.
Most of us know very well that lots of filtering, airbrushing and photo-shopping goes on with many celeb pictures that are posted online.
But in the case of Rachel Hollis, it’s just bloody great to see a beautiful mum and woman not taking to filtering a body that tells so many incredibly stories. All kudos to her.
