Woman fat-shamed for wearing shorts

Being fat-shamed spurred this woman to take action. Photo / Facebook, Brynne Huffman

Standing in line at a post shop, Brynne Huffman was mortified to be told by a fellow customer that while her hair was "amazing" she needed to "rethink her shorts".

The 39-year-old actress and mother was stunned by the comment, but instead of going home and changing, she decided to take action.

In a lengthy post on Facebook which included her offending outfit, Huffman called for women to stick together.

She explained her interaction at the post shop and that she took the remark about her shorts as being a comment on her weight.

"It took some courage to both purchase and wear said shorts because my legs, while tan from swimming and muscular from dancing, are (1) not where I would like them to be and (2) are not up traditional beauty standards (read: Photoshopped) because cellulite."

Her original post has received 10,000 likes and 4,000 comments.

While most were in support of Huffman, some sparked debate about America's obesity epidemic.

Claudeson Azurin wrote: "We have an obesity epidemic that is burdening our healthcare system, and all everyone can do is tiptoe around the issue and lie to people's faces."

But the majority of people praised Huffman and told her to keep wearing her shorts. Pauleaan Tuivasa wrote: "You work them shorts girl."

And Kiwi woman Jude Catterick told Huffman she looks "gorgeous" and said she sees the same issue in New Zealand. "... I live in New Zealand and we have the same issues here... I have a partner who is pencil thin and 8 years younger than me, he always says that he doesn't want a 'pretzel' woman and brains to him are far more attractive than slimness. You go girl, you do look fantastic."

Since her encounter, Huffman has been inspired to start a Twitter account, @TheBodyYouHave and launched a website to promote the celebration of all shapes and sizes.