Between getting your “hip cleavage” right and your “Barbie feet” perfectly arched for Instagram, the bar to look your best on social media is pretty damn high. Even the “body positive” posts championing inclusivity come with a seemingly endless list of requirements: symmetry, good lighting, flawless makeup, stylish clothing, and the right filter.
Cutting this noise, however, is the hashtag #SaggyBoobsMatter. Launched by social media influencer and What a Time to Be Alone author Chidera Eggerue, the #SaggyBoobsMatter movement is creating space for women with saggy (or otherwise “imperfect”) breasts to celebrate at least one natural aspect of a woman’s oft-scrutinized existence.
Eggerue, 23, told Mashable that she began using the hashtag online, where she’s known as “the Slumflower,” after noticing that her breasts looked “saggy” while flipping through a photo taken of her while out the night before. She liked the photos—she looked so happy, she thought—so she uploaded one and commented on her breasts before others had a chance to.
“[My top in the picture] was a deep plunge neckline so it meant you could see the posture of my boobs…But then I noticed that my boobs were saggy and I knew that people might feel a certain way about it…Somehow I chose to enter on the caption #SaggyBoobsMatter,” Eggerue told Mashable. “I didn’t know at the time that I was starting a movement, I was just expressing that saggy boobs actually matter.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXDwbAlhpfi/?taken-by=theslumflower
https://www.instagram.com/p/BaIF4tWh164/?taken-by=theslumflower
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeGNqPrj6X3/?taken-by=theslumflower
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bks6wntD08w/?taken-by=theslumflower
In the months since, other women have jumped on Eggerue’s message, sharing photos of themselves with the same hashtag. Eggerue began writing about saggy breasts and sharing photos with the hashtag more often to continue the conversation. She said she began learning how other women see themselves through the stories they shared with her.
“First of all saggy boobs aren’t even represented at all. And secondly, most women have boobs that aren’t perky,” Eggerue said. “That means there’s a whole conversation that needs to be had about women’s bodies, and more importantly how we see our own selves.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmYwCvuHLCx/?tagged=saggyboobsmatter
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlIzQkgnGS1/?tagged=saggyboobsmatter
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmasGFSDzeB/?tagged=saggyboobsmatter
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjdBAlWAi5k/?taken-by=bodyposipanda
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmYdffIBk4M/?tagged=saggyboobsmatter
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmXg7fInF6a/?tagged=saggyboobsmatter
Other people have created art depicting Eggerue and her efforts to change the boob beauty standard.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmSaAEClMkZ/?taken-by=lilbilliedesigns
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmaPKLygn3r/?tagged=saggyboobsmatter
Eggerue’s book, What a Time to Be Alone, is supposed to help others “evaluate and embrace their own self-worth.” However, it’s clear from her saggy boobs movement that Eggerue’s just continuing the encouragement that she’s already started.