This post originally went live on the 30th of January 2014. It went viral and the result was a spike in the number of people signing the petition to stop the censorship of images of women’s bodies by Facebook and Instagram.
As I continue to work towards heightening awareness of the importance of positive body image, I will continue to highlight the importance of work done by people associated with the Fourth Trimester Bodies Project and the I Woke Up Like This Project – among many others….
“After the birth of my first daughter, I began to feel disconnected from my new body. The photographs produced as part of The 4th Trimester Project gave me confidence in my new physique.
I saw women who were not models – with bodies that had ‘snapped back’ within weeks, or even days, of giving birth – but who had been dealing with the same constraints that many new mothers do.
The project shows women who have to do the night feeds, who can’t afford personal trainers, who wonder when they last had a shower – but who, most of all, love their children and are happy to be parents.
I realised that I should wear my scars with dignity – as a badge of honour, if you will – and appreciate them because they were living evidence of my achievement.
I’m not normally political but I hate censorship – book burning, anyone? – and I find the attitudes of both Facebook and Instagram towards The 4th Trimester Project quite unsettling.
It seems that any attempt to celebrate the human body in a style that is not artificially perfected or portrayed in an environment which is unrealistically aspirational is stamped out.
In this respect, I can see a correlation with attempts to prevent pictures of breastfeeding from appearing on people’s personal Facebook feeds.
It’s a slippery slope and we should all be concerned by decisions made by businesses to dictate what is ‘acceptable’ or not.
Whether you are a mother or not, any attempt to prevent the realistic visual representation of the human body is insidious and sinister.
I’m proud to say that I have signed the petition to stop the stupidity. I hope that you will consider doing so as well.”
And just for some context, here’s a clip explaining the Fourth Trimester Project from back then. Also a picture of me and my second daughter around the time that I wrote the post…when I was starting to become happy about my post babies body.
Sophie's Voice 