‘This body should be celebrated’
Laura Mazza has nothing to be ashamed of. In a brave and moving post to her Facebook page, “Mum On The Run,” the 27-year-old writer posted side-by-side photos showing what her body looked like before and after having her first child.
In the “socially acceptable” photo to the left, Mazza writes of her slender, athletic tone:
“No stretch marks or scars from belly button piercings. A belly button that was high. A flat stomach. I was always on a diet back then. And this was the best diet I went on.”
Then, in the photo to the right, she follows up:
“On the right is me now. Stretch marks. A droopy belly button. Thicker, not many bones protruding, but more dimples that represent cellulite. People don’t want to see this photo. All of a sudden it’s not okay.”
Mazza is being 100 percent real in her post. She freely admits that she’d like to have that body on the left back, but she wants to do it the right way, through healthy nutrition, exercise and most importantly, a healthy mental outlook based on self-esteem. And people seem to agree with her sentiment, with her post already having been liked by more than 15,000 people and shared more than 7,000 times.
It took the contrasting images for Mazza to realize that how she looks now isn’t just acceptable, it’s a “victory story” driven by the fact that she has brought children into the world and come to see the human form as something far greater than an ideal forced upon men and women through advertisements and body shaming:
“I get it now. Celebrating all body types. All body types and the stories that go with that body. Above all, THE person should be celebrated. Healthy bodies should be celebrated. Healthy should be what we strive for. Healthy minds, healthy journey's and however that reflects on to our bodies, we should admire it.”
You can read more of Mazza’s writing on her Facebook page and on her Mum On The Run site here.
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