Body positivity is an important issue these days for people of all ages. Nowadays, the bombardment of images on mainstream media and social media has given men and women an ‘ideal image’ of how they should look. Certain celebrities are regularly patterned after and there’s a general mould that everyone should just ‘fall into.’
And that’s where body positivity comes in. Being in love with yourself and your body doesn’t necessarily mean you need to have abs or be a size zero.
It simply means being confident in your own skin and loving yourself for who you are.
And that’s exactly what Stephanie and her fiance Arryn did. Instead of conforming to society’s standards of beauty, they created their own.
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The happy couple had Wolf & Rose photography take pictures of them in order to promote the message of body positivity.
FacebookWhen these inspirational photos reached social media, there was a general sense of elation and tons of positive feedback.
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People commented: ‘size plays no part in these images, every single one of them is raw and real and full of love.’ Another said: ‘this is gorgeous, love how gently he’s cupped his lover’s face. Something about it says she’s mine, with pride, not ownership.’
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However, when Stephanie’s employer (Austin Bank Texas) saw these viral photos, they called her into the office and fired her.
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They said they were concerned about how the photos reflected the company’s image. In an interview, she said: ‘they said I was topless and it was inappropriate and we’re a family-oriented company.’
FacebookShe continued: ‘if they feel what I do outside of my job is going to jeopardize their business, that’s fine. It’s just disheartening to me because I feel like home life and work life are two totally different things. I was a model employee, I was moving up fast. I had a promotion within seven months. This one thing, for me, was the reason I was booted.’
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Since the termination, members on social media have tried to fight for Stephanie’s job back. The posts have since garnered more than 30,000 shares and the happy couple has just announced that they are expecting a baby boy!
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