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Fit mom defends herself against claims of ‘fat shaming’

Posted at 1:26 PM, Oct 15, 2013
and last updated 2013-10-15 13:30:13-04

A mother of three in California is defending a photo of herself and her three boys that has led critics on Facebook to accuse her of ‘fat shaming’ women.

32-year-old Maria Kang initially posted the photo a year ago, according to Yahoo Shine.

In it, she poses while surrounded by her three young sons, now 1, 3 and 4. Floating above her head is the question, “What’s your excuse?”

The picture has nearly 160,000 likes and over 16,000 comments – many of which are angry attacks calling her a bad mom and a bully.

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Though she first posted the photo to her Facebook page a year ago, Kang noticed it was being shared a lot more recently and that it was generating a swell of negative comments toward her. So she reposted it to her own 72,000-plus followers, tacking on an apology — which, she admits, is really a “non-apology.”

“I’m sorry you took an image and resonated with it in such a negative way. I won’t go into details that I struggled with my genetics, had an eating disorder, work full time owning two businesses, have no nanny, am not naturally skinny and do not work as a personal trainer,” she wrote, in part. “What I WILL say is this. What you interpret is not MY fault. It’s yours. The first step in owning your life, your body and your destiny is to OWN the thoughts that come out of your own head. I didn’t create them. You created them. So if you want to continue ‘hating’ this image, get used to hating many other things for the rest of your life.”

That post brought a frenzy of negative responses, including, “Those precious little things need their mommy more than they need you to have glamour muscles,” “Not that I *NEED* an excuse for not working out, but here’s mine you self-righteous idiot … fibromyalgia,” “You are part of the body shaming problem that is going on in North America and other parts of the world,” and “You are a bully with a super inflated sense of your own self.”

Many others, though, rallied in defense of Kang, with “Never apologize,” “Get a life and leave this woman alone,” and “Well done!”

Read more at Yahoo Shine.