Trolls Call Girl In Viral Photo “A Hippo”

The photographer behind a viral picture of a young girl holding scissors to her stomach says she feels disheartened by the way her image has been misinterpreted throughout the world.

Meg Gaiger, from Wales in the UK, took the photograph of her daughter to show the powerful influence the media plays on young minds, hoping to spark the conversation between families on the subject of body image.

Instead, the image went viral throughout the world and has since been used to sell diet pills in Vietnam and promote liposuction in Tunisia.

What’s more shocking though, is that the photograph has attracted horrifying headlines such as “Fat Bitch”, “Hippo” and, “Cut the fat fatty”.

“It seems to have poked something in a lot of people, some good, some viciously bad,” Meg says.

Having fought insecurity issues in the past and her daughter’s friend being bullied at school, Meg wanted to use the image to change people’s perceptions on what is beautiful and why we should all stop being so judgemental.

“Alopecia hit when I was eight and stuck about ever since, so appearances/people’s perceptions of them had been a topic I wanted to cover somehow when I started photography,” Meg says.

“The scissors image is one that had been in my head for about 10 years. My best friend had broken down one day, told me she had done just that, but not gone through with it, that kind of imagery stays with you.

“When my daughters friend began being bullied and called fat it outraged her (she is a soft-hearted wee soul) and sparked a long conversation between us on the subject of body image and how people can react and why, then onto perhaps how a shoot ‘could’ perhaps be done.

“We talked about the feelings associated with it and came up with the concept itself (we did try other emotions but the head down was the one people reacted to most strongly). When it came to the shoot she really went for it on the acting side “” she works as an actress so is a very self confident wee lady and has a more solid grasp on the world vs reality because of it.

“Her opinion (and mine) was if it sparked even one mother to talk to her child about the subject and possibly avoid feeling so awful about themselves, or stop them from bodyshaming just one other person…it was worth shooting.”