15 Moms Who Epically Shut Down Body Shamers

More from CafeMom: 13 Easy Shortcuts That Will Add an Extra Hour to Your Day If only 15-year-old me knew she was (and still is) gorgeous. The sad fact is, practically all women have been body-shamed at least once — and it sucks! It doesn’t matter how fit, skinny, fat, curvy, etc., people always seem to find something to say. But hopefully sometimes luck strikes and they have the exact perfect response that puts the shamer in his or her place. More from CafeMom: Women Reveal Their Most Embarrassing OB-GYN Stories For inspiration, I asked 15 moms to share their body-shaming moments and how they stood up to their haters. Read on, and hopefully these ladies can encourage other moms to know that they are beautiful no matter what their body shape or size is! “And then I gained weight as an adult and even more weight after my son was born and she started relating to me conspiratorially about being overweight. We could ‘cheat’ (on our diets) together, etc. When it was clear one of my daughters took after my husband and was going to be petite and lean, she leaned in [and] fake whispered, ‘Well, we can hate her.’ “Um, no, no we can’t, Mom. Basically what I do to combat her is to go to therapy, never ask her opinion, and do the opposite of what she wants me to do. “In the last few years I’ve really been embracing my own bonkers style and Mom has slowly begun to accept my lack of makeup and rainbow clothes. But every time she says something body-shaming about my kids especially, I cut her off and tell her that’s not okay with me.” — Sarah R., Seattle, Washington “Sometimes it hurts but I never give anyone the satisfaction of seeing me flinch.” — Alice R., San Diego, California More from CafeMom: Body Positivity Blogger Claps Back at Haters in Totally Inspiring Way Me: ‘Thanks!’ Man: ‘Girls aren’t supposed to have pipes.’ Me: ‘Are you kidding me right now?’ I gave him a major stink eye and he got nervous and backed away. Idiot.” — Sasha T., Saint Paul, Minnesota “And this dumb guy in line is all, ‘It’s totally inappropriate for you to be dressed like that in here’ and I was all, ‘Uh, this is an informal restaurant in the city, the only person who is being inappropriate here is YOU.’ “Dude. Stop policing women’s bodies already.” — Sarah R., Saint Paul, Minnesota “My goal with my response was to try to make her feel as dumb as possible for asking that question. I said, ‘I don’t know how much weight I gained because I never looked at the scale. I ate healthy foods and exercised when it felt good, so I didn’t worry about the numbers on the scale.’” — Anna K., Saint Paul, Minnesota “I told him that my ass was just fine and that he was welcome to kiss it as I walked away.” — Julie D., Sioux Falls, South Dakota More from CafeMom: 15 Ways We Can Teach Our Daughters to Love Their Bodies “I made my husband fight that battle for me. Let’s just say, it was in his best interest to tell his mom to back off and apologize.” — Rachel G., Saint Paul, Minnesota “One day I was wearing a very colorful dress and I heard some of the girls snickering at me. One of them finally said that I looked like a circus tent because my butt was so big. “I am really proud of myself for how I handled it. I stood up taller and said that I loved my dress and my butt and that I hoped they would all grow up to feel as awesome about themselves as I do about myself. That shocked them into silence.” — Daphne W., Cedar Rapids, Iowa “I stopped dancing and walked to the front of the class and told him that he was a terrible teacher. Then I went to the manager and told him that he had a teacher who was body-shaming instead of encouraging. The next week there was a new teacher for that class.” — Holly W., Austin, Texas More from CafeMom: How 15 Women Give Themselves a Quick Body Image Boost “One day, I was getting ready to run and this guy jogged past me and gave me the up and down eyes and then laughed at me and said ‘good luck.’ “Damn, boy, I don’t need luck! I didn’t say anything but I was laughing to myself when my fat ass ran right past him. I’m fat but fast, buddy.” — Dinora D., Orlando, Florida “The last time she said something I told her that if she didn’t stop saying stuff like that about my eyes, she was going to be seeing a lot less of me. I think she got the point.” — Pamela S., Des Moines, Iowa “She was shocked that I called her out. But it had to be said!” — Helene D., Brooklyn Center, Minnesota More from CafeMom: 12 Women Share Photos of the 1 Thing They Put on to Feel Totally Fierce “One of my coworkers always comments on my daily lunch hour runs and I finally snapped at her and said ‘Would it be okay with you if I was running to go get a sandwich?’ “Seriously, people, it isn’t cool to fat-shame or skinny-shame.” — Eriana G., Gilbert, Arizona

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