This week, a woman named Tanerélle Stephens made headlines after walking the blue carpet for the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards.

The American singer and actress attended the event celebrating the achievements of people of colour in the entertainment industry wearing an embroidered black and white Batani-Khalfani dress with a low V neckline and a cape that flowed down her back.

Some crucial facts to note: this woman was fully clothed. There was no side vag, or naked dress. No cultural appropriation or political statement. Tanerélle’s vulva was securely tucked away from view.

Side note – here’s some fun (and not so fun) facts about big boobs. Post continues after video.

The problem, some critics felt, was her breasts. You see, Tanerélle chose not to wear a bra that day.

Thus, her boobs were a bit saggy. They just… hung there. No support and out of control.

Mass confusion ensued. Had she fallen victim to an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction? Had one of her bra straps busted just as she was about to step out of the car? Had her stylist forgotten to tape her breasts up ready for public consumption?

Tanerélle on the Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards blue carpet on Monday. Image: Getty.

Note Tanerélle has breasts, and they're in her dress. Image: Getty.

Following all the confusion, Tanerélle addressed the criticism of her saggy breasts on social media, explaining there had been no error. She simply thought her breasts looked better in the dress that way.

"According to some I missed a critical step yesterday when getting ready," she wrote alongside two photos from her red carpet appearance.

"What they don’t know is I literally had a fat ass piece of [breast tape] stuck from the bottom of my left boob to the top of my shoulder, looked at it and made a conscious decision to take it off because I actually loved the way my natural breasts looked in comparison to the “perfect” option... last time I checked, what I thought about how I look was all that mattered, so I’m gonna keep going with that cause it’d be f**king impossible to please EVERYONE when it comes to ME."

Tanerélle continued to say, while she's worked hard to be happy with the way her body looks, there are so many women out there "still stuck in a daze of self hate, people pleasing and projecting how you feel about you in an attempt to make someone feel the same."

"What I care about is that there are women out there still allowing the male gaze to determine their worth and what they can and can’t do. This reminder of socialized minds in regards to a woman’s body always rocks me a bit, but it’s not gonna knock me down. It just intensifies my mission of pushing self care and self love even more," she said.

"You owe it to yourself to at least try to embrace the parts of you you don’t like because someone else said you shouldn’t. Your body, no matter what it looks like, is doing all it can everyday to keep you alive and thriving, that to me deserves all the f**king love and care I can give, so I’m gonna. Cheers to the tits!!! small tits, big tits, fake tits, no tits, all tits! And cheers to being a f**king woman."

In a second post, Tanerélle also thanked her fans who were inspired to share their personal experiences with body dysmorphia, body shaming, defeats and victories.

"Each one of y’all are so f**king beautiful in every f**king way and I am so blessed to witness your light. Situations like this encourage me to continue fighting and pushing through regardless of wanting to give up sometimes."

While the way Tanerélle's breasts looked on that red carpet ultimately came down to a decision of comfort (have you ever tried to wear boob tape? It's... sticky), there's a bigger message we can take away from how alarmed some were by the sight of saggy breasts.

This is what real breasts look like.

I get it. It can be confusing for people because some owners of breasts walk around with them strapped up to a height society deems preferable with the help of a bra. Sometimes, women even hitch their boobs up with strapping tape (or like this writer once did, electrical tape) to give the illusion of perfect, pushed together cleavage.

See?