When fitness trainer Jessi Kneeland posted a photo of herself stretching at the gym on Monday showing the dimples on her legs, plenty of her followers commented to let her know how much they appreciated her openness. One man, however, saw fit to let her know how "unhealthy" he thought she was — so naturally, she gave him a piece of her mind.
Kneeland posted a screenshot of his message along with a mirror selfie in response, writing, "LOLOLOLOL this comment was left by a hater, on the cellulite photo I posted yesterday. This photo was taken this morning. Sorry dude, I didn't realize I have cellulite because I'm just TOO FAT!!"
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"Don't worry though," she added. "Me and my 'unnatural, unhealthy body fat' are just gonna be over here helping women understand that there is NOTHING wrong with cellulite (or anything else about their bodies!) and that trolls like you are ignorant and uneducated. Also I'll keep spinning my body as 'none of your damn business.'"
Kneeland tells Refinery29 that she doesn't actually get comments like this all too often.
"So when I do, it really strikes me, and this one was just the perfect example of the worst of trolling — just like, inaccurate scientifically, overstepping boundaries about whose business my body was, so that's why I shared it," she says.
The most ironic part? The commenter called Kneeland, an actual fitness trainer, "unhealthy."
Kneeland says that she doesn't know if this person actually follows her, but she suspects that he doesn't (his account is private) — which would make it even stranger that he had gone through the effort of commenting on her photo.
It was important for her to post about it, she says, because she knows plenty of people who have to contend with body-shaming all the time, and demonstrate a way of fighting back.
"It felt like a good moment to demonstrate that I don't have to take it personally, I don't have to be offended," she says. "All those things are valid — I understand why people feel them. But I wanted to share that I was choosing to be like, that is absurd and ridiculous. It's really funny that you think you have a say [in my body]."