If you’ve been living under a rock, you probably missed Robbie Tripp’s viral Instagram tribute to his ‘curvy wife’.
The author and activist took to social media last week to champion his wife, fashion blogger Sarah Tripp, and explain that feminism had taught him “curvy” women could be sexy.
What initially seemed like a well-meaning post quickly proved divisive, with some people questioning why he needed to even mention his wife’s size.
Plus-size model Tess Holliday has since added her two cents to the debate, asking people to “stop giving men trophies for doing the bare minimum”.
Tripp’s post, which has received over 33,000 likes, reads: “I love this woman and her curvy body. As a teenager, I was often teased by my friends for my attraction to girls on the thicker side, ones who were shorter and curvier, girls that the average (basic) bro might refer to as ‘chubby’ or even ‘fat’.
“Then, as I became a man and started to educate myself on issues such as feminism and how the media marginalises women by portraying a very narrow and very specific standard of beauty (thin, tall, lean) I realised how many men have bought into that lie.
“For me, there is nothing sexier than this woman right here: thick thighs, big booty, cute little side roll, etc. Her shape and size won’t be the one featured on the cover of Cosmopolitan but it’s the one featured in my life and in my heart.”
He continued: “There’s nothing sexier to me than a woman who is both curvy and confident; this gorgeous girl I married fills out every inch of her jeans and is still the most beautiful one in the room. Guys, rethink what society has told you that you should desire. A real woman is not a porn star or a bikini mannequin or a movie character. She’s real. She has beautiful stretch marks on her hips and cute little dimples on her booty.
“Girls, don’t ever fool yourself by thinking you have to fit a certain mold to be loved and appreciated. There is a guy out there who is going to celebrate you for exactly who you are, someone who will love you like I love my Sarah.”
Cue, the backlash on social media.
Plus-size model and founder of the #EffYourBeautyStandards campaign, Tess Holliday, also joined the conversation, sharing a screenshot of a tweet she’d spotted on social media which suggested that when a guy says he likes curvy women, he gets thousands of likes and makes national news, yet when a curvy woman says she likes herself, she gets trolled.
The model wrote in the caption: “This is so real. Stop giving men trophies for doing the bare minimum. Also I’m not here for someone who says transphobic things.”
The latter was in relation to a tweet by Tripp in 2015, about Caitlyn Jenner being transgender. According to the Independent, he wrote: “Born a Bruce, always a Bruce. Clothes, make-up, surgery, and public acceptance still won’t change how you came into this world.”