Is there a difference between posting photos in a bathing suit vs. in underwear?

Netherlands-based personal trainer and nutrition coach, Roos, spreads body positivity through her popular Instagram account fitroosje. In a recent post she hit her followers with a question that’s honestly been plaguing us for awhile: When it comes to posting photos while wearing swimwear versus wearing underwear, what exactly is the difference?

Roos posted side-by-side photos of herself — one in a bikini bottom and one in underwear — both showing roughly equal amounts of skin. Then in the caption, she got into the weird double standard that comes up depending upon which clothing item you’re wearing.

“A lot of people will judge when you post a picture in underwear, but not when you post one in bikini,” she begins the caption. “But what exactly is the difference? Only because a bikini has different material? Or that we are used to see people at the beach in bikini and not in underwear?”

“I think that there is not really a big difference wearing a bikini or underwear,” she continues. “I mean you actually see the same amount of skin. I don’t think that there is really a difference we should worry about. It’s all in our mind and our habits.”

Roos tells Yahoo Style that she has been judged unfairly on her own social account when posing in a bikini versus in underwear. “Women are judged differently for posting images in underwear than they are when posing in a bikini, because of how the public perceives both pieces of clothing,” she says.

“Underwear is known as something you need to put under your clothes — something that should not be seen by everybody — personal and private. A bikini is something to wear at the beach, camping, pool, so it’s ‘normal’ to show your body in a bikini. However, in both cases the same amount of skin is shown — and can be seen by others. It might be some kind of taboo to be exposed in [knickers] and a bra that society has created. I don’t see a big difference.”

Roos says that she has been shamed for posting photos of herself in underwear on her social platform before.

“Whenever I post a photo in underwear, there have been those ‘put your clothes on’ comments. This doesn’t occur when I post a photo of me at the beach or in a pool,” she shares. “Some people will look at you differently when you post a picture in underwear. I think that it is overrated. You will almost always see the same amount of skin, so in my opinion it doesn’t really matter. What’s important is for me is the message behind the photo.”

She’s also learned the harsh reality that many people will judge and leave cruel comments on her posts no matter what she wears. “In my experience, there are always people that have the need to leave negative comments,” she says.

In the caption for the underwear versus bikini photos, Roos concludes by sending a strong message to her followers: Post whatever you want!

“If you feel happy showing more skin, just do that,” she wrote. “If you don’t feel like showing more skin, just don’t. Let everybody do whatever they want and just be happy.”

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