Bodybuilder who bodyshamed woman with 'love handles' at the gym causes widespread outrage
"Tearing someone else down for how they look won’t make you feel any better about yourself"
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Your support makes all the difference.As they said in the wonderful This Girl Can campaign of 2015, you may be slow, but you’re still lapping everyone on the couch by getting out there and exercising.
But this is a message one bodybuilder appeared to forget when she publicly shamed a woman at the gym for her “love handles.”
Londoner Diana Andrews took a photo of a fellow gym-goer on the treadmill.
She posted it on her Instagram story with the caption “love handles”.
Bodybuilder Andrews then posted another photo saying “I bet she’s ordering [burgers] for delivery,” in reference to the fact that the woman on the treadmill was also on the phone.
Unsurprisingly, Andrews has received a huge backlash for her posts and has now deleted many of her social media accounts.
The posts were screen-grabbed and widely circulated online due to general outrage at Andrews’ comments.
“This is why most people hate going to the gym to try and better themselves,” one woman wrote in a support group for woman on Facebook.
Andrews has been highly criticised for adding to the pressure on women to have the “perfect” body.
She has, however, spoken out about the furore.
“I realised that I was wrong to make this silly joke. It wasn’t my intention to body shame, hurt or disrespect anyone,” Andrews wrote on Snapchat.
She then claimed on Facebook that she was merely commenting on the fact that the woman was on her phone: “I saw this girl walking on the treadmill talking on her phone and I made a video and added a comment that she’s probably ordering take away,” Andrews wrote, according to The Sun.
Her account has now been deleted.
The whole incident is unfortunately only likely to add to the insecurity so many women feel about their bodies.
“I wish people like Diana would realise that tearing someone else down for how they look won’t make you feel any better about yourself,” body-positive blogger Megan Crabbe told The Huffington Post.
Crabbe also shared a message for the woman on the treadmill: “There is nothing wrong with your body, the only thing wrong here is people thinking your body is their business to comment on and judge.”
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