Social Media Users - Unsolicited Appearance Comments & DMs

Slide into my DMs. There you go. An actual invitation….. Because I want to hear about the comments and DMs you didn't ask for. You post about your business, a promotion, a new job, something you've launched, an opinion. It is often something you're really proud of. And amongst the comments about what you've actually posted, you get... "You look gorgeous." "Not sure about that outfit." "You've lost weight." "You've put weight on." "You look tired." Or something considerably worse. Sometimes it's public, right there in the comments for everyone to see. Sometimes someone decides it's better delivered privately into your inbox. Sometimes it's meant as a compliment. Sometimes it definitely isn't. And sometimes you're just left thinking... Did you actually read the post? I've been thinking about this a lot. Why do we feel the need to comment on how someone looks when they're talking about what they do? Is it more common for women? Does it happen to men too? Why do some comments feel lovely and others make your skin crawl? Does it feel different when it's posted publicly rather than sent privately? And why do people sometimes feel entitled to give us their opinion on our bodies, clothes, faces or appearance at all? So I'm bringing in someone who can help me understand the psychology behind it. I'm recording an episode of the Raising the Glass podcast with psychologist Leona Deakin and we're going to get into the why behind it, and importantly, what we can actually do about it. The good, the bad, the inappropriate and the downright WTF. But I want your experiences to shape the conversation. What have you had? A compliment that felt a bit... off? An unsolicited opinion on your appearance? A public comment that made you cringe? A private message that crossed a line? A comment you saw on someone else's post that you didn't feel comfortable to challenge? Something unkind? Something that made you laugh? Or something that genuinely made you think twice about posting again? Send me the comments. Send me the DMs. Send me the screenshots. Send me the stories. Everything can be anonymised. And I'd really like to hear from the men too. Is this happening to you? So there you go. You all officially have permission to slide into my DMs. Just be kind – this may be the bravest sentence I have written on social media!