Ariel Winter Confronts Slut-Shamers On Instagram

Ariel Winter confronted slut-shamers and body-shamers on Instagram after receiving critical comments on a picture of her sporting a bathing suit.

Ariel Winter Silences Critics

Winter, who stars on Modern Family, posted a “flashback Friday” picture on Instagram last week that showed her on a boat in a bathing suit posing with her two young nieces.”✌?️✌? #mynieces #lovethem #fbf,” Winter captioned the photo.

A photo posted by Ariel Winter (@arielwinter) on Nov 13, 2015 at 8:24am PST

In the comments of the innocent family snap, Winter was criticized for her two-piece bathing suit – and for how her body looked in it. In response to the negative reactions, Winter followed up the nautical photo with a closeup of a woman’s leg, marked with names attributed to woman with a corresponding hemline. The shortest hemline reads “whore,” while “flirty” is given to the hem just above the knee, and the longest hemline is dubbed “prudish.” “Who knew that an innocent photo with my nieces would turn into this? The height of a girl’s skirt or whatever she is wearing for that matter, does not imply what she is asking for it,” Winter wrote in the picture’s caption. “It sickens me to think at 17 years old, a photo of myself with my nieces is suggesting that I’m ‘asking for it.'”  

A photo posted by Ariel Winter (@arielwinter) on Nov 13, 2015 at 9:37am PST

“I typically never give power to the mean things people bravely say behind their computer screens on the Internet, but this is for the girls who are constantly bullied whether it be online or at school,” Winter continued. “You are not asking for anything because of what you are wearing- you are expressing yourself and don’t you ever think you deserve the negativity as the consequence to what you are wearing- YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. Celebrate you and don’t let anyone’s comments allow you to think less of yourself. Us girls have to stick together!!!!!!”