A teen received support on Reddit after sharing she was upset when her cousin, who she claims is overweight, edited and posted an unflattering photo of her online.
“I recently went to a family gathering that my parents were in charge of. They had food, drinks and games. I’ll call the cousin in question Annie. Annie is morbidly obese, we never talk about weight or anything like that in our family. I respect and love her and don’t have a problem with her weight,” the 18-year-old wrote.
During the party, Annie wanted to take pictures with everyone to commemorate the occasion.
“She got this one really cute picture of me and her and asked if she could post it. I said of course and the rest of the party went without incident. The next morning when I checked Instagram I was horrified to see that she had SEVERELY edited the picture,” the teen explained.
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“She made me look like I was about 200 lbs heavier than I am. Fitness and health is super important to me, I exercise daily and eat really well. I have no problem with her size or anything, but I don’t want her to make me look the same as her, especially since she is friends with like all of my friends and family,” she continued.
When she confronted Annie about the image, her cousin “explained that she was trying to promote body positivity and show that it’s OK to be plus sized.”
“I said ‘okay fine, but you didn’t get my permission. Also, isn’t that kind of portraying that my body isn’t okay??’ She got really upset and refused to take down the photo. She then started ranting and said I don’t understand what it’s like to be fat and life is just so easy for me,” she wrote.
After an intense argument, Annie “got really mad and hung up” the phone.
“I talked to the rest of my family about it and my parents and siblings were totally on my side. But, my other cousin called me and screamed at me that Annie has always struggled with weight and food comforts her and I am such a jerk. She then was saying she would make sure the photo never got taken down???” the teen detailed.
“I didn’t mean to bring up weight issues and I didn’t say it was easy being Annie. I just didn’t want that photo of me out there,” she concluded.
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Users in the comments section offered the teen supportive words.
“Tell her that body positivity is for all sizes and she shouldn’t distort pictures of you because you feel (keyword) beautiful just the way you are and that you don’t appreciate her body shaming you for her own entertainment,” one person wrote.
“Sounds like she just didn’t want to be the biggest person in the photo (especially with her response to you working hard on your own body). I’m sure weight can be a sore subject for morbidly obese people, but that doesn’t mean she has the right to act like this. And just because you’re thinner, it definitely doesn’t mean that your life is ‘just so easy.’ And isn’t body positivity about feeling good in the skin you’re in? Why would she use that to justify her editing your body to look like hers?” another commented.
“As someone who has struggled with my weight for years, I take full ownership and responsibility for that. Food didn’t make me fat, I did. And body positivity does not mean making a healthy person look bigger to make someone feel better. Body positivity is about accepting all bodies and being confident regardless of size. Sorry this happened to you,” someone else shared.