We’re officially only four days away from Christmas, meaning many of us are currently embracing the festive cheer as we anticipate the big day and all the joy that comes with it – well, some of us are.

Unfortunately, that dose of Christmas spirit isn’t hitting everyone – so much so that some are still taking to the internet to share disparaging comments and shame others.

This is what model Ashley Graham recently experienced after sharing a photo of herself attending singer Tori Kelly’s 2000s-themed 30th birthday.

The model and body positivity activist posted photos to Instagram of her dressed in a mini gold slip dress, which she captioned: “When it’s @torikelly’s 30th and she says 2000s, I show up in my bday freakum dress, ikyk (also the amount of tape I had to use to keep these girls up was obnoxious).”

While photos of Graham in the “freakum dress” garnered numerous positive comments, journalist Sameera Khan called out the model commenting that the “fat positivity movement is getting out of hand” and later comparing a picture of Graham to fellow model Irina Shayk, stating that “studies show that poor, stressed-out men prefer fat women like Ashley Graham” and “wealthier men prefer slender women like Irina Shayk”.

Many rushed to defend Graham following Khan’s tweets, which have since been deleted.

Perpetrating harmful rhetoric which is centred around what men “allegedly” prefer is unwarranted and concerning for those who may see and internalise that message.

Many echoed similar sentiments. One tweeted: “Happy to see people calling out that journalist’s tweets. Ashley is living for life and happy with her body and shaming her for existing is extremely sad.”

Another commented: “Body shaming ahead of Christmas? Some people need to get a grip and let people live their lives instead of criticising them – especially when your argument is so male-centred.”

Instead of responding directly to Khan’s tweets, Graham shared a Twitter thread asking people to share a photo of themselves embracing their body – and the responses were truly empowering.

The tweet, which gained over 83,000 likes and 4,000 retweets, saw many share photos of themselves and an empowering message.

“Everybody is beautiful. Even if we don’t feel like it ourselves sometimes, I did here, though!” commented one user who shared three photos on the platform.

“Presenting some looks from my ‘glorifying obesity’ collection back when I cosplayed a lot more and had the nerve to pretend to be a fictional character,” another sarcastically commented. “I still cosplay now and my wife still makes my looks, I just did it a LOT more years ago.”

Graham’s Twitter thread proves that instead of responding to negativity, it can be best to further hone in on the positivity and beauty in front of us.

And with many continuing to share photos and messages about body acceptance, I think it’s safe to say she did the right thing.

Image: Getty