A couple in the US have found themselves at the centre of lots of media attention, after a man received backlash for calling his wife ‘curvy’ and commenting on her body in an Instagram post.
Robbie Tripp posted a loving and inspirational post on his Instagram, in which he praised his wife. He said: “I love this woman and her curvy body. As a teenager, I was often teased by my friends for my attraction to girls on the thicker side, ones who were shorter and curvier, girls that the average (basic) bro might refer to as “chubby” or even “fat”.
“For me, there is nothing sexier than this woman right here: thick thighs, big booty, cute little side roll, etc.” And this is only part of what he said about his wife, as the caption was considerably lengthy.
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The doting husband received a lot of support and positive messages from women, but also a backlash by some who accused Robbie’s Instagram post of being attention seeking and for implying that loving a ‘curvy’ woman is revolutionary.
Plus size model Tess Holiday has even spoken out against the great media response to Robbie’s post, as she tweeted: “Stop giving men trophies for doing the bare minimum.”
But Robbie and his wife Sarah gave their opinions on Good Morning Britain as they appeared via video link. He said: “[Posting about Sarah is] actually something I do frequently. If you scroll back, I use my Instagram to write about things that inspire me, and nothing does that more than this beautiful lady.
“I definitely hoped people would see it and connect with it. We’ve gotten messages from people in Saudi Arabia and Mauritius.
“The overwhelming positivity and love we’ve received, from it, women sharing messages on how it helped them accept their bodies, to love themselves more when they don’t see representation in the mainstream media of their body type.”
It was at that point that stand-in GMB host Jeremy Kyle addressed Sarah and asked her to comment on the backlash her husband has received. She replied: “I think a lot of people don’t have context to the post.
“What people don’t realise is I’m a body positive fashion blogger and I label myself as curvy and I talk about my thick thighs and booty. It’s not an abnormal conversation for us, and I think a lot of people don’t realise that.”
GMB presenter Kate Garraway also questioned Robbie on why the comments he made had to focus on her looks rather than anything else about his wife, but he defended himself saying: “I think that’s a reach, I think that’s been taken out of context. At the end of the day, it’s me celebrating this beautiful woman in my life.
“Maybe even offering a thought-provoking statement about portrayals of women in the media.”
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Body image campaigner Natasha Devon was also on the show to give her opinion on the matter and she said: “He’s fundamentally misunderstood what feminism and the body confidence movement is about.
“With this particular post, I almost feel that he wanted a medal, like, ‘aren’t I amazing, my woman doesn’t conform to these normal standards of beauty therefore I deserve attention’.”
It seems the Instagram post has divided a lot of people, what do you think about Robbie’s comments?