Student bullied by acne memes speaks out

A university student has become the face of a series of cruel memes after she posted a dual photo of herself with and without makeup.

20-year old Ashley VanPevenage was shocked to see her own face appear in her Instagram feed alongside the words, “The reason why you gotta take a bitch swimming on the first date.”

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British DJ Samm Irssak then posted it to his one million followers, commenting, “and this is why I have trust issues”. The meme quickly escalated, and was shared on Twitter 15,000 times.

In response, VanPevenage made a video about the experience, saying that while she’d once loved memes, she could now see how hurtful they actually were.

“Some days I will read through the comments and just see how cruel people can be,” VanPevenage said. “I have never been one to be uncomfortable with going out in public in my natural skin until this picture was posted.

“There are millions of comments. They are disturbing any nasty.”

But, says the student, she’s also wise enough to know that the opinion of strangers isn’t something she needs to care about.

“My advice for people who may have to deal with this in the future is it doesn’t matter what people say about you or what they think about you,” she said. “Everyone is beautiful inside and out.”

Unfortunately, she’s not the first beauty blogger to be subjected to online abuse.

In July, beauty blogger Em Ford of 'My Pale Skin' was the target of trolls after she posted photos of herself without makeup.

"Seriously... has she ever washed her face?" asked one vile commenter, while another said simply, "Ugly as f*ck."

Ford then uploaded a video of herself with her blemishes concealed, to which the response was "You're so pretty," sadly followed by "This is why I have trust issues."

Ford was understandably shocked by the commentary, and decided to make a video in protest of the harsh and unrealistic expectations placed on women.

Rather than let rip at her bullies though, Ford's video, titled "#Youlookdisgusting" is a silent protest against online abuse, and features the commentary she received with and without makeup.

"I wanted to create a film that showed how social media can set unrealistic expectations on both women and men," explained Ford. "One challenge many face today, is that as a society, we're so used to seeing false images of perfection, and comparing ourselves to unrealistic beauty standards."

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Ford said she'd since received thousands of messages from people all over the world who suffer or have suffered from acne, insecurity or self-confidence issues - and that she wanted to relay to them that everyone is beautiful in their own way.

"You are beautiful - no matter how flawed you feel, no matter how upset you may about the way you look or how hard you find it to make friends, or be confident. Believe in yourself, and never let anyone tell you're not beautiful - not even yourself."