#SaggyBoobsMatter: The body positive movement inspiring women to cancel breast reduction surgery

Chidera Eggerue is encouraging women to embrace their natural bodies

The woman who launched a social media campaign to challenge what people think breasts should look like has revealed that it’s prompted some to change their minds about undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Chidera Eggerue, 23, from London, started the #SaggyBoobsMatter movement online to encourage women to embrace their natural bodies and challenge society’s obsession with “perfect” breasts.

Regularly sharing braless images with her 76,000 Instagram followers, Eggerue admits that she once felt ashamed about her breasts and considered having surgery when she was younger.

However, after learning to love her body she changed her mind and now, as result of the body positive movement, she reveals that other young girls are doing the same.

Appearing on ITV’s This Morning, the award-winning blogger said that she has received countless messages from women who decided to cancel consultations with plastic surgeons.

“I've had an overwhelmingly warm, amazing response,” she told presenters Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes on the daytime show.

“Specifically from very young teenagers who have told me that when they had come across the hashtag it had stopped them attending a consultation with a plastic surgeon, which was amazing to hear.

“But, what’s been even more heart-filling was receiving messages from breastfeeding mothers, [who said] that this hashtag has allowed them to feel more beautiful during the process of breastfeeding their child.”

Eggerue explained that she felt the same pressures as these young girls growing up and was often left disheartened when she realised she didn’t look the same as celebrities or models on the packaging of bras.

“As a teenage girl it was way too young for me [to be] thinking that there was something wrong with me,” she explained.

“When I was 18 I considered surgery too. I used to say to my mum all the time that when I was 18 that I was going to get a job, save money and get my boobs done.

“As much as I believe that women deserve complete autonomy over their bodies and if they want to get a breast augmentation that is completely up to them, I do feel, however, that it is a shortcut to accepting yourself."

Despite considering surgery, the body positive campaigner says she now accepts her body just the way it is and hopes that the #SaggyBoobsMatter movement will encourage others to do the same.