A woman has shared a naked photo of herself for thousands to see on Facebook in response to the body-shaming row sparked by a Snapchat shared by Playboy model Dani Mathers.
Last Thursday, Mathers shared a photo of a nude woman in a Los Angeles gym changing room on Snapchat with the caption: “If I can’t unseen this then you can’t either”. The former Playmate of the year received a flurry of criticism on social media with some users accusing her of both body-shaming and invading the unidentified woman’s privacy.
Amid the backlash, one woman sought to put a positive spin on the events by choosing to pose nude on Facebook alongside an open letter to Mathers where she stressed the importance of accepting and embracing all body types.
Christine Blackmon said her husband took the photo of her last month and at first she “begged” him to delete the picture due to the insecurities she had over her body. However, after learning of Mather's post, she instead decided to share it on her Facebook page, asking the model to #UnSeeTHIS.
“Here’s the deal – you may have been a Playboy model but not all of us work out to be ‘hot’, some of us work out simply to honour the bodies we were given,” she wrote. “That’s all that woman was trying to do and you violated her. Shame on you.
“I bet I could get hundreds of women to post their beautiful bodies and regardless of size, shape or colour, they will ALL be more beautiful than the ugliness you showed in that post. So Dani Mathers, I’d like to introduce you to my 5’10’, 194lbs lumpy, bumpy glory #UnSeeTHIS #AllBodiesAreBeautiful."
The post has clearly resonated with people having been liked almost 50,000 times and shared over 5,000 times since it was posted on Saturday. Ms Blackmon, who has two children, said she shared the photo to support women who already have enough pressures on their appearance as it is without other women shaming them.
“For every day that I’m like, ‘My body birthed life and did this and did that’ there’s another day that I’m in tears on the floor of a dressing room,” she told Today. “But I think the key is that, when we’re having those moments, the women around us should be the ones rallying if we’re not strong.
“[…] We shame ourselves enough, we don’t need Playboy models shaming us,” she said.
Before disappearing from her social media accounts over the weekend, Mathers issued an apology on Twitter and Snapchat: “That was absolutely wrong and not what I meant to do. I have chosen to do what I do for a living because I love the female body and I know that body-shaming is wrong and that’s not what I’m about, that’s not the type of person I am.
“I know I have upset a lot of people out there but please, please believe me when I say this is not the type of person I am. I have never done this before, I will never do this again, you have my word,” she said.
Mathers, who has also been banned from all LA Fitness gyms in the wake of the row, also said the Snapchat was accidental and only meant for one friend.
LAPD were notified of Mathers’ Snapchat by LA Fitness gyms but the force said they cannot move forward with the investigation without the victim coming forward.
A representative for Mathers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
