There’s an expression used by psychologists called thin-slicing. It has nothing to do with bread or any act performed in a deli. Instead, it’s something we all do every day. Thin-slicing is when you make a snap judgement about something or someone, based on very small amounts of information. We’re all guilty of it all the time. It happens sub-consciously and in many cases, we’re wildly off base. Particularly when we’re thin-slicing a celebrity.
Tiffiny Hall is the beautiful, hard bodied personal trainer with long blonde hair who has appeared on several seasons of The Biggest Loser.
You may have seen her on promotional billboards for the show or perhaps elsewhere in the media - in activewear and with a six pack or an eight pack - she honestly has the most extraordinary stomach I’ve ever seen.
That's how I knew her. That stomach. That show. I knew her deal, I thought.
Oh, how wrong I was. Mortifyingly wrong.
A week or two after giving birth to her first baby, a gorgeous little munchkin called Arnold, Tiffiny posted a very different Instagram post-baby body selfie to the one you would expect of a personal trainer who had been on The Biggest Loser.
You know the ones; those dispiriting, passive aggressive, competitive, thirsty photos we’ve become accustomed to seeing from models, Instagram influencers, trainers, fitness professionals and celebrities…..where in the before shot they’re pregnant and in the after shot they have a perfectly flat stomach and the caption is something nauseating like #blessed or #bodiesareamazing.
These are the photos that crush the spirits of other women. If you’ve had a baby you’ll feel like sh*t because it’s highly unlikely you’ll have a flat stomach like that. And if you haven’t had a baby you’ll most likely feel inadequate ('my stomach doesn't look that flat and it's never had a baby in it') and daunted by the idea of this impossibly high bar you’ll be expected to clear if you become a mother in the future.
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The Delivery Room