Florence Pugh slams ‘vulgar’ men who body-shamed her for wearing a see-through dress

In an Instagram speech so good it’ll make you want to stand up and cheer, actress Florence Pugh slammed critics who body-shamed her for her choice to wear a sheer pink dress on the red carpet.

Over the weekend, the British actress called out the shamers—specifically the “vulgar men”—who felt entitled to share their negative thoughts on her body after wearing an “incredible Valentino dress” to a fashion show in Rome.

“Listen, I knew when I wore that incredible Valentino dress that there was no way there wouldn’t be a commentary on it,” Florence Pugh writes in her post. “Whether it be negative or positive, we all knew what we were doing. I was excited to wear it, not a wink of me was nervous. I wasn’t before, during or even now after.”

Related: This mom is calling out all the body-shamers who told her to ‘get a tummy tuck’

The thing is, you can predict and accept that people will be talking about you and sharing their unsolicited opinions all over social media—but that doesn’t mean you have to tolerate actual abuse about the way you look.

And Florence Pugh isn’t here for it. At. All.

“What’s been interesting to watch and witness is just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see,” she writes. “You even do it with your job titles and work emails in your bio?

“It isn’t the first time and certainly won’t be the last time a woman will hear what’s wrong with her body by a crowd of strangers,” she continues. “What’s worrying is just how vulgar some of you men can be. Thankfully, I’ve come to terms with the intricacies of my body that make me, me. I’m happy with all of the ‘flaws’ that I couldn’t bear to look at when I was 14. So many of you wanted to aggressively let me know how disappointed you were by my ‘tiny t*ts,’ or how I should be embarrassed by being so ‘flat-chested.'”

Related: Jessie James Decker cries over body-shaming comments: ‘I can’t believe what I’m reading’

What’s especially interesting to note is that no one in Europe probably batted an eye over the fact that her nipples were on display. They’re nipples, we all have them, and it really shouldn’t be that shocking to see them? (Personally I blame the Puritans for all the pearl-clutching we Americans experience to this day, but that’s an essay for another time.)

“It makes me wonder what happened to you to be so content on being so loudly upset by the size of my boobs and body?” she writes. “I’m very grateful that I grew up in a household with very strong, powerful, curvy women. We were raised to find power in the creases of our body. To be loud about being comfortable.”

She goes on to say that it’s her “mission” to defy expectations of what her body should or should not look like in Hollywood, and refuses to “morph into an opinion of what’s hot or sexually attractive.”

AMEN. We love to see a woman being unapologetically loud while empowering other women. Go, Florence Pugh, go!

Related: Tiktok influencer claps back after negative comments about her marriage and body

Bottom line: everyone should be able to wear whatever they want to wear—what they feel comfortable in, what makes them feel confident, what brings them joy—without having to be subject to an endless stream of body-shaming and online harassment. Obviously, people in the public eye are prone to more abuse of this nature than your average Joe, but that doesn’t make it right. They’re just nipples, for crying out loud! Let the woman live. The dress was gorgeous and she looked happy and beautiful in it.

“If being loudly abusive towards women publicly in 2022 is so easy for you, then the answer is that it is you who doesn’t know,” she concludes her post. “Grow up. Respect people. Respect bodies. Respect all women. Respect humans. Life will get a whole lot easier, I promise. And all because of two cute little nipples.”

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