In a post #MeToo world, you'd think that people would be more cautious when it comes to talking about how women choose to express their sexuality. While men are praised for celebrating their bodies, and their sexual conquests; women are expected to conform to near-impossible conceptions of beauty, but remain objects, rather than subjects of their sexuality. It's a double standard that has plagued the sexes since the dawn of modern society, and it won't quit rearing its ugly head.
Case in point: Coco Austin, who proves that you can be a parent (and look fabulous doing so)... yet get eviscerated by trolls on the internet. The 39-year-old has been known to post some rather risqué snaps, but a recent photoshoot for her new lingerie collection saw her get seriously mom-shamed by social media users, with some going as far as to brand her "disgusting" for doing so.
"Lingerie is meant to be fun!! Go ahead and live a little!" Coco wrote in a caption on one of her Instagram posts, but it quickly appeared that her followers didn't feel the same way.
Some were all for the snaps, taking to the comments section to write "Women like you inspire! Hard work and dedication... True inspiration!" and "I looooove this!! Does it come with the curves??", but others were far less forgiving.
Accusing the model and reality television star of photoshopping her pictures, one Instagram user wrote "Now post the natural photo without photoshop and see what the public says", while another simply stated "Pure photoshop".
One went as far to wonder what Coco's husband, rapper Ice-T thought about the provocative photoshoot, writing "Damn Coco I hope Ice-T gets mad at you."
The majority, however, were more irked about the fact that Coco had dared to flaunt her body as a mother - she and Ice-T have a three-year-old daughter, Chanel.
"Just curious how would u feel if ur daughter did this... or when she grows up and sees u half naked (thats more than half btw) to half the world? And looks at u different... Im all for showing off ur body but in clothes u dont have to be naked to do this s*it u have a daughter that is gonna grow up to see this and be very disgusted, [sic]" one particularly aggrieved Instagram user asserted.
Another kept it short and decidedly not sweet: "You are absolutely and utterly disgusting".
Either way, we're sure that Coco is completely unfazed by the trolls. In an interview with People, the star of Ice Loves Coco said that since giving birth she's felt more grown up. "It’s weird because I feel like a totally different Coco — a more mature Coco," she told the publication. "[Before] I was kind of wild and crazy and didn’t really care about what people think. Now I do care what people think, and I want them to think of me as a better person, not the wild Coco. I want them to see me as the mother Coco, and that I’m a good person at heart."