Swara Bhaskar hits back at postpartum trolls: My body is none of your business
Swara Bhaskar has responded to trolling about her postpartum weight by sharing a throwback post. She said she decided “not to return” and criticized the pressure placed on women to meet beauty standards after childbirth.
Actress Swara Bhaskar has spoken out against body shaming and the expectations placed on women after childbirth, saying she has faced repeated criticism over her postpartum weight and has no intention of “going back” to meet the standards set by strangers online. Bhaskar, who welcomed her daughter Rabia in 2023, said women’s bodies should not be limited to looks, sexuality or glamour.
Her comments come after she shared an old photo from 2018 and received insensitive comments on social media. He also posted a screenshot of one such message, in which questions were raised on his transformation and career. Bhaskar criticized the lack of “self-awareness” behind such comments and the casual cruelty of online trolling.
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What did Swara Bhaskar say?
Bhaskar shared a collage of an old picture along with a recent picture of him holding his daughter in his lap. Rabia. Responding to the backlash, she wrote that the anger directed at her for not losing weight on other people’s timelines was “bizarre” and said that women’s bodies have a greater purpose than meeting beauty standards or serving as “props for glamour”.
“This is a hill I will die on again and again! The kind of anger and rage I have faced over the years because my body has changed after having a baby and because I refuse to post weight loss on strangers’ timelines on the internet… it is bizarre! I want to say it again and again. Women’s bodies have a purpose for much more than being a vehicle for sexuality and glamour,” she wrote.
Speaking about her journey post-motherhood, Bhaskar said that she had deliberately decided to “not turn back”, adding that life changes fundamentally after having a child. She said that many women may miss their former appearance, but trying to force the body to return to a previous version may be tantamount to self-cruelty.
“After I had a child (2.5 years ago now) I decided not to go back. Because once you have a child – there’s no going back – you’re a parent for life. Life changes radically, and that’s okay. Of course, we miss our old lives, our younger and freer versions of ourselves, our thinner and tighter bodies, but we continue to idealize our younger, thinner selves without thinking – back to our bodies. To toss or force the versions of your past to fit in is a kind of cruelty.”
On postpartum checkup and trolling
Bhaskar described the constant scrutiny of women’s bodies after pregnancy as “unintelligent and dirty” and said that a woman’s appearance is no one else’s concern. Addressing those who linked her looks to her profession, she said that acting talent has nothing to do with weight or conventional beauty.
“Our bodies have conceived, nurtured, nurtured and nurtured a whole other human being. Of course they will change and that’s OK!!!!! This constant pressure to look desirable for cameras or the internet or strangers, the constant shaming of women for carrying postpartum weight, the judgment of women not wanting to lose weight or not, it is both unwise and bad. It is no one’s business. Women should live their lives the way they want to. Want to. And no, this is not an argument against fitness,” he wrote.
The actor has also been vocal on various social issues and often uses his platform to connect with his audience on questions related to social norms. She was last seen in the show husband, wife and messand his last film was where four friends (2022).