Another day, another woman forced to defend her body on Instagram.
This time, it’s fashion and fitness entrepreneur Maria Pogrebnyak-Shatalova who came under fire for her 23-inch waist, after she proudly measured her physique in a social media video.
Known as Maria Poga on Instagram, the Russian model had to defend her figure and her waist, which is the size of the average seven-year-old’s.
The mum-of-three shared a video showing her waist measuring at 59cm.
Her small frame fits a dress size of triple zero – which is so rare it basically makes Maria the unicorn of fashion.
But some people seem to disagree with the adage, ‘Good things come in small packages’ – or all-sized packages for that matter – and have cruelly branded Maria ‘anorexic’.
Others have criticised the model for using photo editing software, presumably not understanding that Instagram, by its very definition, offers a filtered and curated picture of reality.
One Internet Detective, posting under the name konyshkinaekaterina, said: “Why wouldn’t you admit it. This is not your victory, but one of a very good plastic surgeon.”
However, Maria, who is married to former Premier League striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, 33, has offered an alternative explanation as to how she achieved her figure.
She said:
Prior to giving birth I worked out all the time, and thought if I am working out I can eat anything I want, I am killing myself at a gym.
Maria continued to share her feelings about her post-pregnancy body:
I couldn’t get why my waist was 65 or 67 centimetres (25 or 26 inches).
Only after three pregnancies, did I manage to control my will and start eating healthy.
She concluded:
I am happy about my victories. My waist is 59 centimetres, and in the morning it is 58 centimetres.
Of course, no person can be measured wholly in weights and inches and the size of their waist yet, while Maria might feel happy in her own skin, sadly, some women do still feel a lot of pressure to bounce back to their former figures after pregnancy.
However, the pressures of societal beauty standards can hardly be solved by one woman and an Instagram page.
So perhaps we should stop criticising those women, like Maria, who are healthy and happy.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.