Women are using the #BreastiesStrong hashtag to respond to a Sussex pastor's Facebook message labelling women who post selfies with their cleavages exposed as insecure.
In his post, Pastor Philip Hutchings of the Higher Life Christian Centre in Sussex said: "Dear Insecure Women, please stop conveniently including your chest in your selfies. Don't need your weird aerial views. We're embarrassed for you. No really, we are. I know you're trying to make up for other losses, but let's be honest, the whole pic is a loss."
The pastor asked people to share his post to "save lives" using the #AgainstBreasties hashtag. The term breastie was used by the pastor in reference to selfies with breasts, GlobalNews reported.
But instead of getting support for his campaign, the pastor drew flak for his statement.
Women who were offended by his post are now using the #BreastiesStrong hashtag on social media to unite against individuals who try to shame them for having breasts.
The campaign started when Aaron Stapleford, Jesse-Lynn Jenkins and Kathy Jenkins, three women who worked at Ocean of Ink tattoo protested the pastor's statement by taking a group 'breastie' in front of the pastor's main church.
"I have a daughter and I want her to grow up loving her body and being proud of her body," Stapleford said.
"He's not talking about overly provocative shots here. He's talking about your run-of-the-mill taking your picture up here and having your chest in it. In my opinion, when you're teaching or spreading the word of God, or of Jesus, the message should be love," Jesse-Lynn said.
Since the first #BreastiesStrong groupie was posted online, the trio have received support and women have followed suit across a variety of social media platforms, often captioning their posts with breast puns or sharing the reason why they joined the campaign.
"They're trying to promote the confidence instead of the shaming. It's awesome. I go through my Facebook page and all these people are posting it.," #BreastiesStrong supporter Sarah Cunningham Kay said in an interview for CTV Atlantic.
She said that pictures posted online were just regular photos of women doing regular things and were not intended to be sexually provocative.
Meanwhile, the pastor has taken the campaign in his stride, posting messages about enduring criticism on his own social media account. He even joked about the campaign being a blessing.
"LOL. What was meant to take you out... always takes you up," he tweeted.
