Newscasters often become local celebrities, which all too often comes with dealing with unnecessary comments about their bodies. One pregnant meteorologist called out this behavior after dealing with negative comments about her on social media.
Mary Ours, a meteorologist for WJAC-TV, an NBC affiliate in Western Pennsylvania, responded to a body-shamer directly via the network's Facebook page, and then also took to her own page to call out the commenter, and those who have made similar remarks about female newscasters across the country.
"If you don't know from my million announcements on social media, I'm pregnant and I'm so excited!" she wrote. "Yes, my body is going to be changing drastically and I will be growing so the negative comments about how I dress and look are unnecessary and will not be tolerated — it's bullying!"
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Ours responded gracefully to the online bullies. She especially noted the issue of other women making these comments, instead of encouraging one another.
"You're body shaming a pregnant woman when we should be lifting each other up," Ours wrote via the WJAC-TV account. "Hope you have a better day!"
"Women in particular feel that they can say whatever they want to someone about their size and how they dress in a public forum where everyone can see it," she added on her own page. "We as women should be supporting each other not putting each other down."
Although Ours has every right to be angry at the commenter and those like her who try to shame other women, she instead used the moment to highlight how she will raise her own future child.
"And, if I have a daughter I want her to know that it is okay to stand up for yourself and be happy in your own skin, so hopefully I can teach her that," she wrote. "As I become a mother soon, I feel I owe it to myself to try and make a difference and put a stop to the online bullying and body-shaming. I am growing a human, and I am doing my best."
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