Ilona Maher Just Healed a Piece of My Lifelong Body Insecurity

I have a confession: I have always, always been very self-conscious of my stomach. It’s just…never been flat. Not when I was a teenager, and certainly not after birthing twins.

For most of my life, I’ve felt like I’m the odd one out, probably because I’ve been fed so many images of perfectly flat, edited, airbrushed images. And clearly, those images have affected the way we expect women’s bodies to look.

See: The fact that when a woman dares to have a visible belly outline, the world loves to tell her she “looks pregnant”. This recently happened to Ilona Maher, our body inclusive queen who always, always has the perfect clap back. Here’s the comment she directed to the man (of course it was a man) who body-shamed her.

“So to him, I say, ‘That's just a normal woman's body. You probably haven't seen a woman naked in a long time, if ever, and I hope you never get the privilege to again, 'cause that's just how we are, okay?’ ” Maher said.

And you know what? Heck yes! This *is* what a normal, healthy, strong body looks like.

We have been so conditioned to think we have to hide any shape through our bellies away from the world, or do a cleanse before we’re going to be in a bikini, or suck it in at all times. But the reality is, bellies have a whole range of shapes and it’s all normal.

With her clap back, Maher honestly healed a little part of me…and I wish I could have heard this type of thing when I was growing up. 

“I always have this, okay?” Maher said of her stomach. “I'm sucking it in right now. And I have it, so, please, please, stop commenting the dumbest stuff.”

Yup. What she said.