Ariel Winter: Modern Family actress, 17, told ‘she is asking for it’ for wearing bikini in Instagram picture

Ariel Winter (Getty)

A teenage actress hit back at slut-shaming trolls after being told she was “asking for it” for posting a picture of herself in a bikini on Instagram.

Ariel Winter was allegedly targeted by misogynistic users for sharing a picture of herself in a with her two young nieces on a boat. According to Winter, the image quickly received a barrage of criticism from users angered at her decision to appear in just a swimsuit.

The Modern Family actress grew up in glare of the spotlight and spoke out against the sexualisation and objectification she experienced after under going breast reduction surgery earlier this year. Winter said both trolls and the pain caused by her breasts factored into her decision to have surgery.

 

 #mynieces #lovethem #fbf

A photo posted by Ariel Winter (@arielwinter) on Nov 13, 2015 at 8:24am PST

This week, the 17-year-old shared a second picture on Instagram of a woman's legs with varying derogatory names underneath lines denoting skirt length. In doing so, she joined a number of high profile women who have shamed sexist and abusive users.

She wrote: “Who knew that an innocent photo with my nieces would turn into this? The height of a girl's skirt or whatever she is wearing for that matter, does not imply what she is asking for. It sickens me to think at 17 years old, a photo of myself with my nieces is suggesting that I'm ‘asking for it’.

“I typically never give power to the mean things people bravely say behind their computer screens on the internet, but this is for the girls who are constantly bullied whether it be online or at school.

“You are not asking for anything because of what you are wearing - you are expressing yourself and don't you ever think you deserve the negativity as the consequence to what you are wearing - YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.”

In October, the Girls creator Lena Dunham described how she was forced off Twitter and no longer posts content directly to the site after being subjected to "verbal violence" on a photograph of herself in her boyfriend's underwear.