A mom was eager to enjoy feeling comfortable in her own skin on a hot summer’s day in Missouri — so she went to her local water park.
But not long thereafter, red and blue lights were flashing outside. Never in a million years could she have guessed that her day would end up with her being thrown out of the park by police.
Madelyn Sheaffer, a 43-year-old woman who has received international attention for her story. She used to be ashamed of her body and was constantly covered up from head to toe. She didn’t want anybody to see her in her unhealthy state. Until she started to lose weight and gain some self-confidence back!
Sheaffer, in fact, is proud of her body and the hard work that she has done over the last seven years to lose weight and keep it off.
The employees at the Missouri water park told Madelyn that she needed to cover up and put on some shorts. The 42-year-old mom was beside herself after hearing the complaints, so she asked to see a manager.
The manager confirmed the employee’s decision and promptly kicked her straight out of the premises. She claims that plenty of other women were wearing the same small bikinis that fateful day, yet she was discriminated against.
In an exclusive interview with NY Daily News, she said:
“I am comfortable in my bikini. I am happy with who I am. My first reaction was why are you singling me out? They said that my bottoms were inappropriate. That was funny to me because they are full-size bottoms. I felt it had more to do with my chest because I am large-busted.”
She refused to leave the premises, even after being banned so the water park was forced to call the police on her. Madelyn then shared the story with her local news stations, hoping some bad press would send a message to the water park that they shouldn’t discriminate against those with different bodies.
“You know, where there’s 16- to 18-year-old girls, wearing just the same amount, and no one’s criticizing them, or making them feel ashamed, or making them feel uncomfortable in their bodies… It’s summertime. It’s a swimming pool, I’m wearing a swimming suit…” she said in one passionate interview with KSHB Kansas City.
In the wake of this embarrassing incident, the Riverfront Times reported that she decided to move to Hawaii. Her Facebook page garnered hundreds of thousands of Facebook likes through the ordeal, yet upon current inspection no longer seems to exist.
So while the story may not be closed on this famous woman, her situation at the waterpark brings up an interesting debate. How specifically do the rules need to be for these sorts of situations in order to prevent discrimination? Considering how different all of our bodies are, it seems it will always be up to a subjective view – and women like Madelyn will never be satisfied.
Madelyn made it clear that she has no intention of “going after” the officials at the water park in any way. She posted about the incident to bring attention to an issue that hits very close to home for her and clearly a lot of other people as well.
Watch it here: ABC News/Youtube
Sources: AWM, NYDailyNews
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