This Response to Dani Mathers, The Body-Shaming Playmate, Is Epic

Photo:Facebook/delicateflower

Last week, 29-year-old model Dani Mather’s secretly photographed a naked woman taking a shower at the gym and posted the image on Snapchat with the caption, “If I can’t unsee this then you can’t either.”

Since this despicable act took place, the Los Angeles Police Department has launched an official investigation into the incident, and the 2015 Playboy’s Playmate of the Year gym membership at L.A. Fitness has also been permanently revoked. (Surprise, surprise.)

And many women still have lots to say on this upsetting matter, including Facebook’s Delicate Flower, who took to social media on July 16th to post a “Dear Dani Mathers” message—a message that has received over 16,500 Likes.

The 5’10,” 194-pound woman included a naked photo of herself (censored with the black bar, which was considered a #liberated movement by Kim Kardashian and Emily Ratajkowski earlier this year) and introduced Mathers to her “lumpy, bumpy glory” with the hashtags #UnSeeTHIS and #AllBodiesAreBeautiful.

Along with the thousands of Likes followed an outpouring of heartfelt messages. But even the woman behind Delicate Flower didn’t expect this tremendous amount of attention.

“I expected maybe a couple of hundred comments,” Christine Blackmon tells Yahoo Beauty. “At first when I saw the amount of shares, I thought, ‘Oh my God, my bumpy butt is all over the place!’ But once I saw everybody posting [in response], I was so proud of them.”

The Army veteran, wife, and mother refers to some of the comments that she considers “astounding,” like a number of females who’ve been fighting various illnesses.

“One of the women had a metabolic issue and she was sick of people saying, ‘You don’t look good. You don’t look healthy. Everyone likes curves better than sticks,’” recalls Blackmon. “It’s not okay to shame somebody big, but why is it okay to shame somebody thin?”

There’s also the new mom who posted a photo of herself holding her six-month-old child. “She said, ‘This baby wrecked my body and my husband won’t have anything to do with me anymore, but it was worth it.’ I just cried. She’s really beautiful.”

There were even a few men who chimed in on the issue. “They posted, ‘I tell my wife this all the time, but she won’t listen to me.’ That was great, too!”

While Blackmon is flattered with the ongoing compliments, she wants to set the record straight about those who now consider her to be a courageous warrior.

“I’m no different than anyone else,” she states. “I’ve gotten a lot of people saying to me, ‘I wish I could be so bold and so confident!’ Yes, I was in the army, and one day I’d be thinking, ‘This body has made babies, climbed mountains and has jumped out of planes!’ But I’ve also posted when I’ve literally melted down and cried on the floor in a Marshall’s changing room because I felt fat and ugly. Please don’t put it out there that I’m some, ‘I love my body and everybody should have mad, crazy confidence like I do.’ I’m no different [than other women]. I just try to surround myself with people who will try to pull me up when I don’t have the strength to do it.”

In order to improve her internal dialogue, Blackmon has been making an effort to put everything in perspective. “I’m a widow, and I know it’s so easy to get sucked into feeling about how sh*t your life could be,” she admits. “But there’s always someone looking at you, saying, ‘I wish I had what she had.’”

And she remembers this theory when she begins judging herself—and her body.

“I think all of us are critical of ourselves, and as much I can be critical of myself, I’m also keenly aware that my ‘before’ picture is somebody else’s ‘after’ picture,” states the 42-year-old who’s partnered with a newly-launched genetic-based skincare line, Targeted Skin. “So sure, I look at pictures my husband takes of me, and I’ll think, ‘Oh, my arms look so fat,’ because I’m comparing it to myself from a few years ago. But someone else may be thinking, ‘What are you complaining about? I would give anything to look that way.’ So I try to be appreciative of that.”

And thousands of women are appreciative of you, Delicate Flower!

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