Kim Kardashian’s infamous viral nude selfie was posted weeks ago but many women are still replicating it.
The sentiment behind this latest one, however, is quite important.
Lacey Barratt, a birth photographer from Melbourne, Australia has turned herself into the subject by replicating Kim’s selfie while breastfeeding her 11-month-old with the accompanying #stopbodyshaming to address apparent double standards in media.
“I just felt the need to say this. As a woman who actively fights Facebook and other social media platforms for censoring birth and breastfeeding images, this has bothered me,” Lacey wrote in an essay she posted on facebook. The double standard of body shaming I have seen because Kim Kardashian posted a censored nudie of her body. WHO CARES?! It is a woman’s body!! Only difference is a baby isn’t hanging off her boob…so does that now make it inappropriate? No way! A woman’s body should be celebrated, regardless if there is a baby on the breast, or simply because, one feels like it. Lets be very very careful not to have the same double standard facebook has. Neither one of these images are sexual. Just two women’s bodies at two very different times in their post partum and pregnancy walks.”
The photo has been shared hundreds of times and the majority of comments are positive:
“Live and let live! We shouldn’t be body shaming it’s just adding more and more to a woman’s insecurities about her own body. If people don’t agree with something let it go, it’s not hurting you,” wrote one supporter. “This is actually the most intelligent, beautiful & truthful thing I’ve ever read on Facebook! No word of a lie! If only there were more woman and men who thought as you do,” added another.
But others did not approve of Lacey’s nude selfie regardless of its good intentions:
“I hate this myself. Ugh… I feel like this takes the breastfeeding movement a step back,” wrote one Facebook user. Another echoed this stance: “It’s perfectly fine to love your body and to breastfeed etc etc but why does the world need to see it? Some things should stay sacred or between you and your spouse not spread through social media, you wouldn’t go naked to a party with friends?”
photo: facebook
“I respect everyone’s viewpoint to agree and disagree,” Lacey wrote, in response. “I appreciate the people who have politely disagreed. I am not here for a debate. I think I made my view point clear enough in my post. Rock on beautiful mammas.”
Lacey isn’t the only one to draw inspiration from Kim Kardashian. Back in March, mum blogger Constance Hall posted her own nude selfie version and like Lacey, she received mixed reviews.
READ: Kim Kardashian responds to backlash: ‘I’m a mother and I’m allowed to be sexy’
If you have any insights, questions or comments regarding the topic, please share them in our Comment box below.