Aurora Starchild
New momma Mia Somerville was 3 months postpartum and wanted to talk about women’s bodies. She took to TikTok to show off her belly, stretch marks and all, as an exercise in body positivity. But instead, she was met with a tidal wave of trolling and body shaming.
Videos by Rare
Yes, Real Postpartum Bodies Usually Feature Stretched Out Bellybuttons
Mia Somerville’s viral TikTok video has already received over 2.3 million views. She started by showing herself at 4 weeks pregnant. Somerville is a petite woman and at that point, she wasn’t showing in the slightest.
“I had a great stomach, loved my body, was very body confident. And pregnancy changes things,” said the mom.
“Obviously, I have this beautiful little girl now,” she continued. “And I would not change anything for the world. But I’ve had two physios tell me that if I want my bellybutton to look like this again, I need plastic surgery.”
Somerville said she was at 40 weeks and 6 days when her baby girl was born.
“I am not saying that my new body is bad, it’s just different,” said Somerville. “A lot of stretching happens in those last few weeks. I have a 3-finger ab separation, mild, mild prolapse [down below], and a bellybutton that will probably never look the same.”
The mom lifts her sweatshirt and shows off her postpartum stomach. There is absolutely nothing unusual about her stomach considering she recently had a baby. The skin is loose, as it should be. A woman’s belly can become enormous when she is holding a full-term baby.
TikTok Trolls Shamed Somerville, Referenced “Girl With the List” Meme
The comments section was immediately flooded with women’s resolutions to never have children.
Primarily, people were mentioning “the girl with the list.” The reference is a meme that arose from a viral TikTok last month. A TikToker named Yuni made a video about the pros and cons of becoming pregnant. It was posted with the hashtags #takeyourbirthcontrolladies and #donthavekidssaveyourself.
While simply joking about the “girl with the list” isn’t necessarily mean, it was in this context. The commenters seemed oblivious to how rude they were being. Mia Somerville was trying to make other women like herself feel better. The mom didn’t need to be shamed with reminders of why she shouldn’t have kids.
However, many women applauded Somerville for her honesty and postpartum body share. Some said it made them feel more comfortable about their own bodies. Others thanked her for normalizing motherhood.
“My ex told me multiple times if my body didn’t ‘bounce back’ 100% he’d leave (he’s the one wanting kids) we need to normalize post baby bodies!” one person wrote. Eew. Thankfully that guy is her ex.
Mia Somerville has been clapping back at the trolls for nearly two weeks. Responding to a comment that said, “Yeah because it looks horrible,” she stood next to a photo of herself at 40+ weeks. “Look how big I got. I look amazing!”
“I think the real problem here is that people are more concerned about looking like this, that they would forgo having children and starting a family,” said the mom. “We are so obsessed with perfection as a society that we are so oppressed about a woman’s body looking this way. It is mind-boggling. I’m not worried about it, why are you?”
