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Home / Lifestyle

Kiwi influencer Meagan Kerr slams New Year gym promos with bikini pics

By Emilia Mazza
news.com.au·
8 Jan, 2020 08:15 PM6 mins to read

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"Anyone else feel bombarded with predatory advertising for diets?" she asked. Photo / Instagram

"Anyone else feel bombarded with predatory advertising for diets?" she asked. Photo / Instagram

A New Zealand fashion blogger has taken a stand against a culture that promotes a "new year, new you" by sharing a series of "real" bikini snaps online.

Meagan Kerr recently took to Instagram to share the photos with fans, captioning the post: "Just a rad fat babe, living her life, laughing and having fun at the beach."

The 35-year-old said the images were her way of railing against "predatory advertising" spruiking New Year's diets, "wellness plans and gym memberships".

View this post on Instagram

Just a rad fat babe living her life, laughing and having fun at the beach 💁🏽‍♀️ Anyone else feel bombarded with predatory advertising for diets and “wellness plans” and “new year, new you” gym memberships and detox/cleanse tea that makes you 💩 and all manner of other diet culture garbage at the moment? There’s always a lot of that around at this time of year so here’s a little something to shake up your feed 🌊 Today I went to the beach in possibly the most revealing bikini I’ve worn in a very long while, and I had a great time. The top basically has my cleavage on full show thanks to the lace up detailing (HELLO) and the bottoms ... are way lower than I’d usually wear. Normally I go for the “so high rise they come up to my tits” bikini bottoms so that my stomach, which is lopsided and saggy, is covered up and smoothed out. But I really wanted to feel the sun on my belly and the sea on my skin, so I put on a pair that has been sitting in a drawer for about two years with the tags still on. They don’t even cover my belly button, and you know what? I don’t care. I sat on the sand and had a picnic, I swam with my family, I soaked up the sunshine and had a great time. Looking forward to much more of this over summer. #psootd #plussizenz #fatgirlsummer

A post shared by Meagan Kerr (@thisismeagankerr) on Jan 3, 2020 at 8:34pm PST

READ MORE:
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"There's always a lot of that around at this time of year so here's a little something to shake up your feed," the body-positive activist wrote.

"Today I went to the beach in possibly the most revealing bikini I've worn in a very long while, and I had a great time."

"The top basically has my cleavage on full show thanks to the lace-up detailing (HELLO) and the bottoms … are way lower than I'd usually wear."

View this post on Instagram

Your semi- friendly summer goth here and reporting for duty. Make sure you wear sunscreen, stay hydrated and don’t let sad small minded people tell you what you can and can’t wear 💁🏽‍♀️ You wanna bare those arms, you go right ahead. You wanna keep those legs covered, that’s fine! It’s your body and you can dress however you feel comfortable 🖤 Wearing @torrid tank tucked in to Garage+ skirt from @thewarehousenz [gifted] with @zierashoes Mason slides #plussizenz #psootd #psfashion

A post shared by Meagan Kerr (@thisismeagankerr) on Dec 8, 2019 at 8:30pm PST

Ms Kerr said while she normally chose swimwear with a high rise to cover her "lopsided and saggy stomach", she decided to shun these as a way to fight against social pressures.

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"I really wanted to feel the sun on my belly and the sea on my skin, so I put on a pair that has been sitting in a drawer for about two years with the tags still on," she said.

"They don't even cover my belly button, and you know what? I don't care.

View this post on Instagram

It’s taken me many years to find peace with my body, to realise that actually it’s okay not to look a certain way. One of the most important parts on that journey has been seeing bodies that look like mine. The fat bodies. The ones with cellulite and stretch marks and scars. The ones that are seen as too brown but at the same time not brown enough. The ones without flat stomachs or perky breasts or a thigh gap. Bodies come in all different shapes and sizes, and I think it’s super important that we recognise that. Thank you to everyone who shares photos of themselves, no matter what size or shape or age or gender or race - in a time when brands and media still need to do better, when Instagram deletes photos of fat people that do not violate their community standards, we need to make sure our own feeds are diverse and inclusive, so here I am #fatisnotaviolation #effyourbeautystandards #size26style #fatpositive #horribleinternetfatgirls #nzstylecurvettes #finavstories

A post shared by Meagan Kerr (@thisismeagankerr) on Oct 5, 2018 at 9:23pm PDT

"I sat on the sand and had a picnic, I swam with my family, I soaked up the sunshine and had a great time.

"Looking forward to much more of this over summer."

The "real" photos struck a chord with Ms Kerr's followers, with the post garnering more than 1400 reactions and a raft of positive messages.

View this post on Instagram

I’m turning 34 next week and suddenly I’m getting ads for age defying facials in my feed. To be honest I’d rather spend my time laughing with the people I love than trying to hide my age. My wrinkles, my scars, my grey hairs, my soft body? They’re just part of a life lived 💛 Tee and trousers from @torridfashion, cardigan from @navabifashion

A post shared by Meagan Kerr (@thisismeagankerr) on Apr 29, 2018 at 1:49pm PDT

"I love this post! And I love how pics like this help wahine (women) like me deconstruct our thinking. You look rad," one wrote.

"Love this!! You are rocking that bikini," another said.

"These are flippin' phenomenal swimmers and you are GLORIOUS," one added.

View this post on Instagram

Looks like a girl, but she's a flame So bright, she can burn your eyes Better look the other way ❤️ All my life I've been told that I'm too big, too loud, too much. That I should be seen and not heard. That I should be demure. Not laugh so loud. Take up less space. Stick to talking about pretty clothes and shiny things, as if that were all that I was allowed to have an opinion on. Well this is who I am and I refuse to dull my shine, to make myself smaller, to extinguish my flame for someone else ❤️ Hair by Katie at @loxysnz

A post shared by Meagan Kerr (@thisismeagankerr) on Sep 6, 2017 at 9:42pm PDT

Another said: "Thank you for being one less bloody diet ad on my feed, seriously it's ridiculous how many there are this week."

Others agreed, saying they were also astounded by the amount of diet advertising they had been hit with over the past few days.

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"I don't know whether I am feeling more down about myself, but I feel like the 'diet your way into a better you in the new year' schtick has been even louder and more invasive this time around!" they said.

In a recent interview with Stuff, Ms Kerr said she had no problem at all with people who decided to take up health programs at this time of year.

"I'm not against people joining a gym, I think gyms are great, but the advertising is geared towards weight loss and preying on the fact that people are feeling insecure about their bodies because it's summer," she told the publication.

"It's just the way that they advertise. They're not focused on health, they're not focused on strength, they're not focused on fitness, it's literally preying on body insecurities."

In a follow-up Instagram post, Ms Kerr reiterated her message that dieting wasn't a guaranteed pathway to happiness, self-confidence or self-love.

"You do not have to change your body to earn your place in the world," she said.

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"You are enough just as you are. I used to think that I had to shrink myself to fit in, that I wasn't worth anything if I didn't look a certain way.

"And that's a huge mind f**k, especially if you look very different to the ideal like I do (hello, short fat Maori woman over here)."

She said by speaking openly she wanted people to know that no matter "what size a person was, how old they were, what they looked like or their background, "it's okay".

"You are worth love and respect (from yourself and others) and good things NOW. Just as you are," she said.

Ms Kerr ended her post by telling her followers while it can be difficult to discard "negative messaging" ingrained from childhood, she hoped to offer an inspiring "reminder".

"I wanted to tell you anyway because sometimes we just need a reminder," she said.

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