Athlete Gets Body-shamed And Gives A Bold Response

By Sara
October 30, 2020
4 minutes read

Everyone is beautiful in their own way.

People come in all shapes and sizes. We should learn to accept one another. Social media has set up very unrealistic standards of beauty for people, especially women. Photoshopped or surgically enhanced bodies are seen everywhere. So when we spot a natural and real person, it seems odd to us. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Of course, everyone has their own personal preferences. But that does not mean we should bring people down if they do not fit our description of what we find attractive.

36-year-old Olympian and retired skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn has been a victim of online body-shaming countless of times. She chooses to let her imperfections show in her photos. She is not ashamed of the normal state of her body, and that has triggered some people on the Internet.

Lindsey shared this picture of herself on her 36th birthday, and she received a lot of bodyshaming comments on it.

She wrote a very bold and honest response to all the comments through a Facebook post which received 57k reactions and 4.1k comments.

She is not ashamed of being her natural self.

Lindsey said that it can even be scary to share photos of yourself online because of certain people who love bringing others down.

But Lindsey knows she is beautiful in her own way and tries her best not to let those harsh words get to her.

Women face a lot of harsh treatment by the public.

People are always judging your imperfections, and this can really effect your self-esteem sometimes. You are very lucky if you can look in the mirror and actually like what you see. People love pointing out our flaws just to make us feel even more insecure, but even the fingers pointing at us aren’t perfect. We need to embrace our natural selves.

Lindsey posted some of the mean comments she has to face. This is sickening.

This targetting of women is becoming a growing problem.

“Online violence is a public health issue and the effects are very detrimental. It results in physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm, and erodes self-esteem,” says Cecilia Mwende Maundu, a specialist in gender digital safety and broadcast journalist. They suggested ways of tackling this problem. “First, we need public awareness. Even when I talk to my friends, many of them say online violence is no big deal. People need to understand this is real; that it’s real violence with real impacts. And sometimes it moves from online to offline.”