“I didn’t even let my now-husband look at my stomach for a YEAR. I closed my eyes and waited to hear his groan in disgust. I felt his big hand rub across my stomach.”

‘Curvy women welcome, but ONLY if the curves are in the bust or butt.’ I would wear t-shirts over bathing suits out of fear someone would see my stomach and die of disgust on the spot.’: Mother advocates for body positivity, ‘You are perfectly imperfect’

‘Nobody commented on my bathing suit. Not only that. My butt. I’m sad now, you see. I was never a bikini kind of girl.’: Woman struggling with body positivity says ‘the world isn’t judging you like you think it is’
“I breathed in deep, walked down the hallway. ‘Oh, there she is.’ I can look at this picture and tell you ten thousand ways I hate it. I disrobed to jump in the hot tub with a bunch of friends.”

‘I’ve given birth. The world is gonna get whatever’s in THIS swimsuit. I have a swimsuit and a body. So YES, I already have a swimsuit body!’ Mom has ‘99 problems and a summer body ain’t one’
“Is there any part of the year that puts more pressure on us women to be ‘snatched’ than summer? After giving birth, swimsuits fit weird and my belly is CLEARLY visible. My rapidly changing size made me doubt what was appropriate for a ‘bigger woman’ at the pool.”

‘It is not my job to be a decoration at the beach’: Strangers unite to write ‘hurtful words’ on each other to ‘wash away’ negativity, celebrate their ‘bikini bodies’
“We found there is a common bond, among every single one of us, regardless of body type, that we have been shamed by others, and it was time to wash those words away.”