Yesterday, Modern Family star Ariel Winter posted a seemingly-totally-innocuous picture to Instagam, showing her on a boat with her two adorable AF nieces; soon after, she was hit with a barrage of comments about the appropriateness of her outfit, a bikini.
The responses winter received ranged from creepy to very creepy indeed, implying that she was “asking for it” by posting a photo of herself in a skimpy outfit. The below comments represent the tip of the iceberg:
(screengrab via MTV)
This is not exactly unusual for Winter, who has spoken in the past about the lecherous, unwanted comments she tends to catch on social media.
Yesterday, however, she felt sufficiently fired-up to respond, gently but firmly explaining that she was not inviting and nor did she appreciate the insinuations about her outfit:
(screengrab via MTV)
Later, in a separate post, Winter felt compelled to comment further, sticking up for women who’ve found themselves in similar situations:
“Who knew that an innocent photo with my nieces would turn into this? The height of a girl’s skirt or whatever she is wearing for that matter, does not imply what she is asking for. It sickens me to think at 17 years old, a photo of myself with my nieces is suggesting that I’m “asking for it”. I typically never give power to the mean things people bravely say behind their computer screens on the Internet, but this is for the girls who are constantly bullied whether it be online or at school.. You are not asking for anything because of what you are wearing- you are expressing yourself and don’t you ever think you deserve the negativity as the consequence to what you are wearing- YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. Celebrate you and don’t let anyone’s comments allow you to think less of yourself. Us girls have to stick together!!!!!!”
The actress recently underwent breast reduction surgery, a decision she says was driven, in part, by relentless internet bullying.
“I could post a photo where I feel good, and 500 people will comment about how fat I am and that I’m disgusting,” she told Glamour at the time. “I wasn’t feeling so happy.”
via MTV
Image via Instagram
