Mum’s fury after being ‘shamed’ over her outfit choice at Woolworths: ‘I’m shook’

A young mother has been left furious after being ‘outfit shamed’ by an older man while shopping at Woolworths.

Emma Diedrichs, 29, was already feeling nervous when the man in his 70s approached her at the Brisbane shopping centre.

The young mother, dressed in shorts and a top, was putting her son in the shopping cart when the man appeared.

She said the stranger then said to her, “You’re a mother, you shouldn’t have to wear that.”

The mother was stunned by his comment and said she “didn’t even mind it (the package) that much.”

“I can’t believe someone would just shame me and comment on what I wear as a mother. It shouldn’t matter if I’m a mother or a normal person,” she said.

“Don’t comment on what I’m wearing.”

When Emma got home, she told her camera she felt “humbled” and “shocked.”

“I can’t believe he just said that to me,” she said.

“They would never say that if I was there with my partner,” she said.

Speaking to FEMAIL, she explained that she normally avoids confrontation, but at that moment she would have liked to tell him something to ‘educate’ him.

“I would never say anything nasty,” she said.

“But I wish I understood what he was saying and maybe use it to teach him that it’s not his right to comment on what I’m wearing just because I’m a mother. Even if I wasn’t, what right do I have to comment on it.”

Last weekend, temperatures in Brisbane reached 36 degrees Celsius, the first ‘warm’ day since mid-autumn.

“It was our first day back from winter, so he probably expected women to ‘cover up,’ but even then there were other young girls walking around wearing much less clothing than I did. But because I had my son with me, I had to ‘cover up,’” she said.

‘Really madness.’

Emma said that people often made passing comments about her, but never when she was around other people.

“When I’m with my partner, friends or family, no one bats an eye. As soon as I’m alone in public, it’s like everyone has the right to talk to you,” she said.

Her post went viral and many responded to the pushy comment, while others reacted sharply to it themselves.

Temperatures reached 36 degrees over the weekend, so she dressed appropriately for the weather

“This happened to me too and I just said, ‘Did you not take your medicine this morning?’ And I just kept walking,” one mother said.

“My standard response is to look them straight in the eye and say out loud, ‘Did you just say that out loud?’” added another.

Others said he was just being “creepy.”

“He stopped for a moment and took one good look at me,” one woman said.

“They always find some nerve somewhere – it’s like they think they’re trying to get attention by putting you down.”

Meanwhile, many defended her.

“I’m a mother, if I had a body like yours I would wear exactly that. You look amazing,” one woman said.

“Ignore him, you look amazing,” added another.

While other mothers were angry and growling, they were tired of hearing about ‘everything they do wrong’ when they are alone with their children.

“Then we go out as a family and it’s the same people complimenting my partner,” one mother said.

Another complained that she was tired of “creepy old men” asking her how old she was and suggesting she looked too young to have young children: “I’m 26.”