A woman was body-shamed at a restaurant and it led to an important online conversation.
LA Podcaster Adrienne Airhart was at a local restaurant minding her own business and celebrating her birthday when she was unexpectedly body-shamed by another patron.
Airhart took to Twitter to talk of the event and how it unfolded.
Tonight at my birthday dinner I took off my shawl and the lady at the next table said, \u201cwell those are distracting\u201d and moved tables. Still got it!*\n\n*prejudice against big naturals— Adrienne Airhart (@Adrienne Airhart) 1650170909
She wrote:
“Tonight at my birthday dinner I took off my shawl and the lady at the next table said, ‘Well those are distracting’ and moved tables. Still got it!*
*prejudice against big naturals.”
According to Airhart, she was escorted to her table upon arriving at the restaurant. As she sat down, a woman at a table nearby looked at Airhart and uttered a rude comment about Airhart's large breasts.
She said:
"Well, those are distracting."
The woman then promptly got up and moved to another table.
Airhart posted a video of herself during her birthday dinner to showcase to her followers what she was wearing.
Watch the video here:
This was me last night. I\u2019m not even that hot the lady was just a hater. (Though her date did talk to me when she went to the bathroom\u2026you can hear him) pic.twitter.com/JsFyWWdf0y— Adrienne Airhart (@Adrienne Airhart) 1650246779
In the video, Airhart is sitting at her table with a celebratory birthday dessert that came with a sparkler on top. She is wearing an orange top.
Airhart discussed the incident in a lighthearted matter.
She captioned her video:
“This was me last night. I’m not even that hot the lady was just a hater."
“(Though her date did talk to me when she went to the bathroom…you can hear him).”
Airhart's tweet has since gone viral, garnering over 35,000 reactions.
Although Airhart approached the incident in a joking manner, her story prompted an important discussion about body-shaming of those with large breasts.
Many commenters discussed times they were sexualized as children due to their breast size, while others told of times they were victims of sexist comments or workplace discrimination.
Others voiced their support for Airhart.
I'll never forget when I was on work experience at 15 years old and the lady I was 'working' for wrote in my evaluation that I dressed inappropriately. I didn't, I was wearing exactly what they had told me to wear. I simply had breasts.— beatingdrums (@beatingdrums) 1650242866
Wow, she had to physically leave your presence???? Well done!— Erica Di Pirro (@Erica Di Pirro) 1650219708
i had a red fitted tank top on under a red jacket (not zipped up, but it was uniform appropriate) when i worked at a major retail store at 18/19yr. was called into hr and told a woman complained about my distasteful cleavage and they forced me to wear & buy an XXL branded polo.— KP \u2728\u2728 (@KP \u2728\u2728) 1650246096
As a teenager, I worked so hard to give my BFF the confidence to take the t-shirt over her one-piece swimsuit off at the beach. It was summer, 100\u00b0F. Two minutes later, some lady gasps, "that is obscene!" and the t-shirt went back o— Michele Cacano (@Michele Cacano) 1650243498
in college, i was in a bar going to the bathroom and this guy said with a very serious face, \u201cyou NEED to watch where you\u2019re going with those things\u201d saw him in the cafeteria a couple weeks later. no risk of him recognizing me cuz he never looked at my face— alicia carcione \ud83e\uddda\ud83c\udffb\u200d\u2640\ufe0f (@alicia carcione \ud83e\uddda\ud83c\udffb\u200d\u2640\ufe0f) 1650242138
imagine being that insecure u have to leave because someone\u2019s beauty is too big for u to handle— Ana \ud83c\udf44 she/her (@Ana \ud83c\udf44 she/her) 1650240901
In the comments of an interview I had done about our poison water in Flint & the need for tighter national regulations to prevent more Flints, a woman told me she would be able to pay attention to what I was saying better if my breasts weren't so large. I wore a suit.— Melissa Mays (@Melissa Mays) 1650252097
Big girls pearl-clutchers gonna clutch. My dear departed gf took heat for hers in all sorts of ways I can't fathom. Her daughter does too, and the poor kid's just trying to figure it out with mom gone so young.— Ehren Battermann (@Ehren Battermann) 1650252269
As a 36F I totally get this. I was dress coded in middle school for v small amounts of bra strap or cleavage. I was wearing shirts that for average sized chests wouldn\u2019t be any issue. Plus girls w smaller chests were wearing basically see through clothes and didn\u2019t get talk to— Kouda (@Kouda) 1650252367
Love 2 feel constantly objectified bc some of my body parts are larger than other peoples\u2019 body partshttps://twitter.com/craydrienne/status/1515552757045813249\u00a0\u2026— Cricket NOT A GIRL (@Cricket NOT A GIRL) 1650281911
I *still* have to talk myself into wearing something low cut. And people will say and do positively outlandish shit because I had the audacity to wear something low cut, things they wouldn't dare say to a woman wearing the same thing but with smaller boobs.https://twitter.com/craydrienne/status/1515552757045813249\u00a0\u2026— Marie McCurdy steams a good ham (@Marie McCurdy steams a good ham) 1650287983
While this may not have been the birthday celebration Airhart expected, at the very least she was able to get support from her followers while also starting a necessary conversation about the consequences of body-shaming.
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