The Internet has a lot of feelings about photos of Jessica Simpson’s daughter in a swimsuit. Why? Because according to some, a child doing a silly pose in a bikini is “inappropriate.”
For the record, Simpson’s daughter Maxwell is only five years old. In a series of three Instagram shots, the young girl is seen playfully posing with her scooter, while wearing a bikini, sunglasses and helmet because, as Simpson writes, “safety first.”
Although the Instagram post received over 50,000 likes in two days, many commenters were outraged by the images and criticized Simpson for sexualizing her daughter.
“A child posing like that... that's just creepy,” said one mommy-shamer. “If I had a daughter that age I [wouldn't let her] wear a tiny bikini like that and pose herself like a model.”
“I would NEVER post a picture like this of my 5-year-old daughter!” another added. “This is an account anyone can see. Jessica shame on you for exposing your daughter instead of protecting her!”
And then there was this gem: “You know there are PEDOPHILES, POSSIBLY GETTING OFF TO HER RIGHT NOW!!! SEXUAL EXPLOUTATION OF A MINOR, I GET IT SHE'S CUTE BUT PEDOPHILES WON'T THINK SHE'S JUST CUTE!!”
Luckily, Simpson had countless fans immediately come to her defense.
“But a little boy could be shirtless and there wouldn't be a problem… right?” one user shot back. “You're a creep if you think a girl is too young to be in a bikini. Maybe you have a problem that needs to be addressed for automatically sexualizing a 5 year old.”
“People need to look at this picture and realize that this is a child. A 5 or 6 year old child,” another said. “You all need to stop sexualizing children. This is a mother who is proud of her little girl, and that's all it should ever be.”
One even noted that “for all the hubbub you'd think someone was topless. Let this adorable child be a CHILD and leave her mom in [peace].”
Mommy-shamers putting celebrity parents on blast is nothing new. Recently, Kate Beckinsale had to school an Instagrammer who told her to “Go home and take care of your kids” after she shared a short clip of herself dancing with friends.
And in a similar vein to Simpson's criticism, David Beckham was slammed for “inappropriately” kissing his five-year-old daughter Harper on the lips.
There's really no winning when it comes to Internet commenters. So just keep ignoring the haters and loving your kids, parents!
Also on HuffPost
