Meteorologist calls out body-shamer: ‘I will not be strapping myself into a girdle’https://t.co/PmZWbToDWk
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 17, 2019
The body-shamers are out in full-force, sadly, and they are everywhere. We’ve talked over the past few months about celebrities not having it and clapping back at the trolls. Here’s a great story about a meteorologist in St. Louis who pushed back against one of her b-tchy viewers because the viewer suggested that she needed to do something about her belly:
As a meteorologist for KSDK News in St. Louis, Tracy Hinson is far more concerned about sharing the latest weather news than how she looks while she does it.
But the newscaster found herself fighting back against a body shamer who said that Hinson that needs to cover her stomach “bulge” when she’s on-air.
The viewer directly messaged Hinson to critique her outfit.
“Do you ever watch yourself giving the weather report? Seems that you need a girdle for the stomach overhang which shortens the front of your dresses!” the person wrote. “Today was not the first time I have noticed this. Maybe you should wear a top that covers the bulge in your stomach.”
Hinson politely, but firmly, told the body shamer that she’s happy with her body.
“Dear Mary, yes I do watch my air checks. NO I will not be strapping myself into a girdle because you don’t like my belly,” she wrote on social media. “I like pasta, bread and cheese too much to obsess over my weight. I like my body and that’s all that really matters. [heart emoji] Tracy #nomorefatshaming”
Tracy posted a follow-up about all of the support she’s been getting:
Grateful and completely touched by the support I’ve gotten from my friends at KSDK News and total strangers who wrote me with words of encouragement ❤️ #STLProud #ConfidentInMehttps://t.co/aAk5ZcQ3Bb
— Tracy Hinson (@tvalwx) October 14, 2019
She also posted a picture proclaiming her love of mac and cheese:
Few things in life are more beautiful than this sight right here ❤️🧀 #MissMacNCheese pic.twitter.com/fL6EjqEcXD
— Tracy Hinson (@tvalwx) October 14, 2019
I read this story while I was on the train, and I had to stop myself from loudly saying, “YES!” as I read Tracy’s tweets. I love that she has a dedicated mac-and-cheese spoon. I love that she said that she likes her body as it is, and that she knows exactly how she looks. I still don’t grasp this: As a human who has a body that I see on a daily basis, I’m always aware of what it looks like. It’s always strange to me when body-shamers try to suggest that clearly, we are clueless and don’t know what we look like, and that they are helpfully alerting us to how awful we look. Gee, thanks! I had no idea that I have a round belly!
I love that Tracy emphatically stated that she’s certainly not going to wear different clothes because Mary thinks she needs to cover up. I, too, love pasta and bread and cheese (and am more than happy to eat Tim Tebow’s share of carbs). I just ate a package of four Entenmann’s mini-donuts while writing this, and they were good, and I enjoyed every bite. Sadly, of course, Tracy’s story is not unique. The fact that viewers always rally to support their local celebrities makes me happy, and I always wonder whether the body-shamers feel shame after they get told in so many words how atrocious their behavior is. But, seriously, it’s 2019, and I am so tired of this sh-t. Eat the tasty food, wear the clothes that make you happy and feel fabulous, and ignore the haters, y’all.
I am so optimistic that future generations will value a positive body image and curb bullying across all age groups 💞 #NoMoreBullies #WeCanDoThishttps://t.co/boDwzBzsxV
— Tracy Hinson (@tvalwx) October 17, 2019
Did I buy a feeder just to entertain my cat? Yes, yes I absolutely did. #OliverNachoCat pic.twitter.com/9xXCYDuZfq
— Tracy Hinson (@tvalwx) October 15, 2019
I have an undying love for the #bluebox #kraftmacncheese @kraftmacncheese #MissMacNCheese pic.twitter.com/nppwrkJLKt
— Tracy Hinson (@tvalwx) October 5, 2019
People can be so rude.
Omg she looks great in the red dress! It fits her and she glows in it. Is it only acceptable for size 2s to wear fitted clothes?
And Tracy’s belly is tiny. My belly will likely make the body shamer have an aneurysm
Haha I thought the same thing about my belly. And hips. And arms. The list goes on, lol.
I’d KILL for her body! She looks great to me!
Her response was fantastic. Just as you said, it’s astounding how body shamers and concern trolls will act like we’ve no clue what we look like.
What kind if donuts? I ❤ Entemann’s.
Some people need a real slap in the face, with a chair! I’m glad that this young lady was not discouraged by this email! #teamcarbs!
Good for her! I also love Kraft mac n cheese. I grew up with a single working mom, food stamps, and 3 younger siblings I sometimes had to feed. Kraft dinner was a life saver. I didn’t realize the classism inherent in food shaming until I married a middle class white guy. His mom stayed home and cooked full meals every single day. We ate kraft dinner, pop tarts, cereal, pb & j, tuna sandwiches, and a home cooked meal was shake n bake pork chops once a week. He was horrified by my palette and would eat none of those things. My privilege now allows me to eat a much more nutritious diet but I don’t judge what other people eat and I can still eat an entire box of Kraft dinner when I have my period.
My soulmate. I’d swear we grew up in the same house.
🙂❤️
KD for the win!
(In Canada, we call it Kraft Dinner, not Kraft Mac & Cheese, FYI).
@hogtowngoooner
I’m from Philly and my family always called it Kraft dinner (I was very confused seeing “real” home made mac & cheese)
I think we were soul-neighbors! The menu you described is almost exactly the same as what I grew up eating. Add in a couple venison/elk dinners, goulash and lots of oatmeal and you have mine. We were a large working class family. I still love macaroni and cheese.
Yeah, I must’ve lived in that neighborhood, too! Our shake n bake was chicken, our pork chops were with rice & Campbell’s mushroom soup concentrate poured on top. And yes, the goulash, the oatmeal, & the Mac n cheese–although sometimes my mom made her own with Velveeta. And sometimes breakfast for dinner.
Oh, and I want one of those personalized Mac n cheese spoons!
Omg. I can’t believe anyone would do that. I feel sorry for anyone who has Mary in their lives.
I live in St Louis and watch her doing weather. I love that it was all over the news locally and then nationally. What a great example she is setting for our young girls.
❤️
Some people just need to shut their gobs. This is why I only ever watch our national broadcaster for news, weather, sports etc. I’ve heard the hosts – female and male – on commercial stations say some horrendous things about people, hence why I will not watch them. On our national broadcaster, there’s just none of it. A lot of people just seem not to have a filter these days, as if it’s their duty to criticise others. It’s unnecessary, cruel, immature and utterly disrespectful.
Seriously, who does that? Who takes the time out of their day to email someone to complain about how they look…and a woman, no less! It’s so freaking disappointing. Carb on Tracy, I too have a love for Kraft, add a can of tuna and you could eat it with a silver fork 🙂
My money is on Mary being a late 50’s/early 60’s-ish woman who doesn’t understand why these young girls don’t want to dress like a lady with everything all tucked in the right way. How else will she get a man?
Lol
Who does that? A person who is very, very unhappy with themselves or their own life.
Im not a fan of this messaging. She’s a thin woman with a great body who happens to have a soft stomach.
I appreciate her message of loving her body but it’s a lot easier to do so when you’re already the beauty ideal (young, blonde, blue-eyed, white).
I also don’t buy that she’s not watching her weight in some way. Either she’s genetically blessed that she can eat junk food and maintain a size 6, or she’s also working out + eating healthier too.
It all just feels like when Gigi Hadid was celebrated for standing up to people calling her fat or when celebrities bigger than a size 2 talk about how they eat a ton.
But that speaks to the ridiculousness of this situation at it’s core. Nobody should be outraged at seeing that overall pretty, thin, white woman’s body.
When you have people ragging on her for her perfectly lovely looks – imagine the vitriol that is flung at someone who is considered “less than”. While she might have it “easier” than most (which at a base level she does, however she is dealing with being a public figure on top of it) she’s still being needlessly harassed. If people think it’s okay to harass her, imagine the shit they’re saying about someone who’s heavier or less pretty, or whatever. We live in a screwed up world where people feel that they are owed something because a woman decided to take a job on tv. They think they’re owed the ability to criticize her freely, and that’s incredibly f-cked.
Well, the other option was not to respond which would have let commenter “Mary” (shame if it’s a woman doing this, or a man pretending to be one) have the last word, which isn’t ideal either. I think she made the better choice.
Oh I lay odds “Mary” is indeed a woman. Most men would think her body is sexy (which it is). Obviously, “Mary” is a woman with a nasty case of internalized misogyny and waaay too much time on her hands.
In my experience as a fat lady, nothing on earth is more enraging to women who obsessively diet/exercise/hate their body than a woman who refuses to do that. To be clear, I’m not talking about women who exercise and eat healthy in general, just the women who never like their body no matter what they do and always think they’re 5/10/50 pounds away from happiness.
My mother gets so upset when she sees me eating anything normally (some junk, some healthy, always what I want), and it’s precisely because she’s spent her entire life hating her body, and she can’t stand that I decided to hop off that crazy train.
I disagree, Lurker! I eat Mac and Cheese often and I’m thin. And I’m not “watching my weight” or eating healthy the other 90% or anything like that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but every body is different. I don’t think it’s necessary to suggest she must be dieting. It’s very possible to eat Mac and cheese and be any shape or size!
I don’t think it’s a fair assumption to make that it’s easier to love your body when you’re already the “ideal”. People can struggle with their appearance regardless of how they appear to others. Christopher Eccelston’s recent admissions about his own struggles with body image highlight this fairly well – that when people were complimenting him the most on how he looked, he felt his worst.
She looks young, so she can definitely enjoy regularly eating Mac and Cheese with the penalty of just a soft belly. Maybe at some point she’ll have to exercise a lot more, or her carb-hangovers will be more concerning than any weight gain. But until then, let the lady eat her precious carbs, give the weather, and defend herself against haters!
Listen, there are a lot of overweight people in Missouri, and she’s not one of them.
99% sure the person who called her out is overweight, out of shape, old and has a face for radio.
We’re fat, not blind. Take a seat and work on you. It’s likely you aren’t perfect either and until you are STFU.
I’m glad her response was “I love my body” rather than a list of the healthy foods she eats or how much she works out. I think people like that rude note writer has their minds blown when they learn that their awful criticism doesn’t result in people feeling shame/hurt because that’s exactly what they want.
The MOST important question: where can I get those Kraft Mac & Cheese box earrings?
Etsy has some!
There was a shopping post here not long ago that had all kinds of cute little earrings like that–a plate of sushi, a cereal box, & etc.
Until a few months ago Tracy was on the morning weather team for the local Fox affiliate here in Portland, Oregon and I totally miss her. She is very knowledgeable and professional but also funny and charming. I had major wardrobe envy over her cool dresses. Also, her love of mac n cheese was well known and well supported so she’s always welcome here.
Maybe it is a generational thing? My grandmother once told me she liked me better thinner. I was like Grandma! I gained weight in my late 20’s due to PCOS, which wrecked my metabolism. I was a size 14 at my biggest, I am now a size 10 at 38 years old. My grandma though remembered when I was a size 6/8 and apparently preferred me that weight/size. In addition, my parents over the years made comments about my butt, hips, thighs, weight etc, but have thankfully ceased over the past few years now that I see a personal trainer twice a week. I know I am not what they consider an ideal weight, but I am far healthier and happier. I bring all of this up because my parents love weather people and I could totally see them making comments about this lady. Fat shaming totally needs to end regardless though. I love some mac and cheese too.
Reminds me of some conversations the old man and I have had for years.
I don’t care if a local celeb is a chubby bunny or skinny minnie or pregnant or any of that but we worry about them because their stylists (Those aren’t their clothes.) dress them sexy instead of professionally and, yes, they do.
Many of these women use professional/fake names because there are some freaky stalker types out there.
One of the local celebs on t.v. when we lived in Spokane was stalked and raped by the South Hill Rapist.
They could put her in a pretty dress; maybe not so tight and give her a blazer over it or something.
The men are in suits and ties.
Stop dressing these women like they are headed to a party or a club.
Since they are professionals, dress them in nice office/work attire instead of dressing them like the other kind of pro.
They aren’t working the truck stop.
Nancypants, that sounds a lot like you’re saying what women wear is why men rape them.
You’re wrong.
I’m saying these women are dressed sexy rather than professionally like the men are dressed and it can put them at risk.
Nancy, that is absolutely what you’re saying. You’re saying women can prevent rape by changing their clothing. I wish…do you think topless men on the beach would avoid rape by being fully dressed?
Sorry, but women can wear what they want with the expectation that they are safe. Professional dresses do not look like party dresses, and even if they do to you or anyone else, men can keep their eyes, hands, and comments to themselves and have some self control and respect. That is absolutely not an excuse or justification for that type of behavior.
Kraft Mac and cheese, blast from the past 😀I eat a lot of KM&C growing up but since I moved out on my own which was about 40 yes ago 😁 I have had no desire to eat it again. My mother did a great job of doctoring it up. I have no hate for it though so rock on Tracy. By the way I feel the same way about Cool whip 😁
lmao at the earrings! Those are cute. She shouldn’t even have to defend this. Why would anyone even notice that? And if you do notice, what effect does it have on you? Silly. Also silly, as much as I agree with her, is how comments like this always prompt women to go hard with the “I LOVE CARBS!” message like she does here. I understand where it’s coming from but there’s something about it that rubs me the wrong way.
Get that gal a sponsorship. #MissMacNCheese
She’s absolutely adorable. Good in her for standing her ground.
I wish I would have been that confident at that age. Good for her!
I made a kickass instant pot mac and cheese over the weekend. Heaven in a giant bowl.
To me it looks like this meteorologist is merely wearing a dress that doesn’t hide or diminish her figure and this viewer thinks showing any curves what so ever is indecent and inappropriate. I don’t believe this body shamer’s age was listed but this made me think of my and other experiences I’ve read about with women from earlier generations seeming to have much more shame towards their bodies. As a kid my mother said clothes that fit me were actually hanging off of me, friends at school would ask why are you wearing clothes that are at least 1 many times 2 sizes too big for you? Body shame. Women are made to be responsible for how others treat us and sent messages to view our bodies with fear at our body functions, what our bodies ‘cause’ men to feel and do to us, etc. its horrible messages of shame and hatred towards our bodies