Sarah Nicole Landry’s powerful post highlights two very different reactions to her postpartum body
"Cover up for the sake of humanity"
Influencer and mum-of-four, Sarah Nicole Landry is one of many new mums using their platform to share the reality of what a postpartum body can look like.
In the three months since her most recent and “hardest pregnancy yet”, the body confidence activist has been sharing candid postpartum images of herself in a bid to add to conversations around the unrealistic pressures for women to ‘bounce back’ after having babies.
The 36yo Canadian, who has amassed over 1.9million followers on her @thebirdspapaya Instagram account, recently posted three images of herself wearing a bikini and plastered with screen grabs of the mixed kind of comments people make about her body.
The powerful post shines a light on just what a difficult space social media is to navigate and it is resounding with women the world over.
Sarah shared this image covered with nasty comments criticising her body.
“For a week I’ve been having to deal with comments around me wearing this bikini,” shared Sarah alongside the images which shared such sentiments as: “McDonald’s employee of the month” and “More rolls than a bakery.”
Sarah added that she’d been told to “get a tummy tuck,” and was called “disgusting,” “lazy,” and that she had no “self respect.”
The negativity does not make Sarah hide away, in fact in spurs her to double down on her sharing.
“We have to show that this is completely normal for a body to transition to after children OR even without children,” the Podcaster shared.
“The conversation cannot be to just hide until you’re acceptable enough, and then show up. The reaction cannot be ‘please cut yourself away before you come back’.”
“I am three months out from my hardest pregnancy yet,” said the staunch body image activist.
“When they called me lazy, I saw myself protecting my child with rest. When they told me to get a tummy tuck, I hear them asking for me to cut myself away when they don’t even know me. Precious pieces of me, that expanded to hold us safe. When they say I have no self respect, I see they have no respect for me. When they end it with that I’m just disgusting, I know they lost out on the best parts of me.”
In a second image Sarah shared the gratitude and praise that her posts receive from female fans who said: “thank you for this” and that her post had given them the confidence to love themselves as they are.
Sarah followed the image with nasty comments with the same images covered with comments written by women thanking her for sharing pictures of her body.
Sarah also took the time to note that she recognised she was not a traditionally “marginalised body.”
“I fit just slightly outside the regular mold and even THAT is not ok for many,” she shared. “This is why the fight for those in marginalised bodies is so important. They face hate and stigma every day, and we all deserve to show up in this world.”
Sarah concluded her post: “Either hide from the haters or show up for those who need it, myself included. Break it down and the choice is much more clear.”
