Internet Gives Woman Shit for Looking Like This After Giving Birth
Fitness blogger Caroline Berg Eriksen makes a living showing off her well-toned body.
So, when the 26-year-old wife of Norwegian Premier League player Lars-Kristian Eriksen posted a photo of her hyper-fit post-baby body just four days after giving birth to little Nelia, she didn't consider it controversial.
But many mommy bloggers did.
"The competition for women to give birth and then immediately remove any trace from their bodies that they ever carried a child is OBSCENE," railed Mama Mia blogger Rebecca Sparrow under the headline "This is not a selfie. This is an act of war."
The Daily Telegraph's Sarrah Le Marquand called Berg Eriksen "genetically freakish" and, on Twitter, a "shameless exhibitionist."
A British parenting site wondered if Berg Eriksen shouldn't be "cuddling her baby" instead, while other critics wondered if perhaps the photo was old or fake.
But Berg Eriksen wasn't without her share of supporters, too.
"Berg Eriksen is married to an athlete and her only job is to sculpt that chiseled body of hers," wrote The Stir's Ericka Sóuter. "She is a fitness blogger. So it actually is her job to look good."
Some pointed out that Berg Eriksen was pretty flat-bellied going into labor, so losing her baby weight in four days wasn't much of a stretch.
Berg Eriksen's soccer star husband even chimed in on Facebook, writing in his native tongue:
Who is it that creates body pressure? The one who posts selfie in lingerie because she is proud of herself, or those discussing (on the Internet) how a woman's body should look like after birth?
Berg Eriksen eventually broke her silence to defend the photo, telling ABC News she was trying to prove wrong the people who told her that "my body will never be the same" after birth.
"I think all women should be proud of themselves," she added, "regardless of how they look after labor."
Berg Eriksen's photo likely garnered the attention it did due to the recent fallout involving "Fit Mom" Maria Kang.
Kang was recently banned from Facebook for posting comments disparaging plus-size women in lingerie.
