Hi, it’s me . The curvy wife of your dreams. Except I’m actually a man. And I don’t go on social media to brag about how a ‘real woman’ should look like Robbie Tripp. But already, the man is receiving backlash. A lot of people don’t get where he’s coming from; there really is a certain prejudice about mixed weight couples. And it’s obviously rooted in sexism. But like most issues revolving around weight, it goes both ways.
Really, it’s no secret that I’m the bigger man in my relationship. Besides being practically a foot taller than Alex, I also weight more than double her sub 100 pound frame. That doesn’t really bother me (of course, I’m a male, so it doesn’t), but I guess some people would call us a mixed weight couple. But being the curvy wife in this scenario not only isn’t that bad for me, but has also helped me to address a lot of my male body image issues.
Still, I don’t think that cultural call-out culture is all that great. The man obviously had good intentions in drawing attention to him and his wife being a mixed weight couple. And more importantly, his self-identifying curvy wife doesn’t exactly seem to have minded.
“He always makes me feel so loved and appreciated. As a body-positive fashion blogger, I’ve been very open about my body love journey and my goal to help other curvy women learn to love their body. I just feel so lucky that I have a husband who has loved every inch of me since the day we met,”
Given his wife’s feelings, is it okay for us to shame a man who just wanted to praise his wife? The road to help may be paved with good intentions, but not every perceived faux-pas needs to lead to damnation. That being said, being the curvy wife in a relationship can be difficult. It can lead to feelings of inadequacy, and a lot of people feel that one partner isn’t getting a ‘fair deal’ based on attractiveness.
The reality is is that people also don’t like people who date people who are different than they are. In whatever form that may take. But the backlash to Robbie Tripp’s Instagram post is rooted in the fact that he was congratulating himself. And I get that backlash — standing up to the world and marrying a curvy wife is not an accomplishment. And neither is travelling the world. But if there are things you want to do, you should be able to do them. And nobody should tell you otherwise.
