A Nigerian lawyer practicing in New York has replied a critic after she told her to crop out her chest in her professional head shot because her full bust makes it unprofessional.
The lawyer was fully covered in the photo, with her shirt buttoned up almost to her neck, but a follower left her a message, telling her that she and her husband found the photo to be unprofessional because she’s busty.
She further advised her to crop the picture higher so that she can hide her bust from appearing in the picture. The follower went ahead to crop the picture herself, cutting off the bust area and posted it in the lady’s comment section.
The lawyer named Olayemi Olurin responded, and blasted the woman and every other person who tries to police her body and hypersexualize her for being endowed.
She said:
“Don’t you ever in your life get it in your head to police or tell me what’s professional about me and my body. Fu:ck you and your husband.
I really be minding my business and here comes jealous women telling me to hide the breasts attached to my body because it’s unprofessional. Not even the slight presence of cleavage or anything. Then she and her husband gonna tell me how to occupy a space they never have.
Other women insist on body policing me. My body is what it is, how you choose to see it and make it provocative is not my problem. Your internalized misogyny is not my problem. Stop trying to convince me I need to honor respectability politics I’ve already proven wrong.
I’ve gotten all the degrees, awards, and success I’ve ever intended on getting with this body on, wearing what I want, talking how I want, dressing how I want, being who I am. You can hate it but your glass ceiling isn’t mine and I won’t take it on beloved.
Other women regularly try to body police me and I’m going to keep saying this: I’m not going to see my natural body as X rated content just because other people choose to hyper sexualize me. If God gave you your own two breasts, cover them how you’d like and leave mine alone.