On what she thought would be a fun family outing, 43-year-old Madelyn Sheaffer instead experienced unfairness, humiliation, and rage.
But the issue wasn’t her children playing in the park nearby or the pricing of the waterpark tickets or food.
In fact, it was something more serious: she was told to leave the park only minutes after entering and has since refused to let it go.
While swimming in one of the pools wearing her bikini, Sheaffer was approached by staff telling her to put shorts on over her bathing suit.
“You always have the initial embarrassment, but I would say it was followed by indignation,” Sheaffer said.
When she refused to cover up, a staff supervisor gave her the ultimatum of cover up or leave.
Sheaffer said, “He said this is a family park. It is inappropriate attire and, not only do I want you to put on shorts, but you can put on a shirt too because your top is too small as well.”
“I am a person who at one time wore clothes that covered my arms and legs completely,” said Sheaffer. “I am not someone who would wear something that was revealing or inappropriate.”
According to Sheaffer, there had been multiple other women at the park wearing the same small bikinis, and yet she was the one who was discriminated against.
“I am comfortable in my bikini. I am happy with who I am,” she told NY Daily News. “My first reaction was why are you singling me out? They said that my bottoms were inappropriate. That was funny to me because they are full-size bottoms. I felt it had more to do with my chest because I am large-busted.”
More details of this story from AWM:
She refused to leave the premises, even after being banned so the water park was forced to call the police on her. Madelyn then shared the story with her local news stations, hoping some bad press would send a message to the water park that they shouldn’t discriminate against those with different bodies.
“You know, where there’s 16- to 18-year-old girls, wearing just the same amount, and no one’s criticizing them, or making them feel ashamed, or making them feel uncomfortable in their bodies… It’s summertime. It’s a swimming pool, I’m wearing a swimming suit…” she said in one passionate interview with KSHB Kansas City.
In the wake of this embarrassing incident, the Riverfront Times reported that she decided to move to Hawaii. Her Facebook page garnered hundreds of thousands of Facebook likes through the ordeal, yet upon current inspection no longer seems to exist.
So while the story may not be closed on this famous woman, her situation at the waterpark brings up an interesting debate. How specific do the rules need to be for these sorts of situations in order to prevent discrimination? Considering how different all of our bodies are, it seems it will always be up to a subjective view – and women like Madelyn will never be satisfied.
Madelyn made it clear that she has no intention of “going after” the officials at the water park in any way. She posted about the incident to bring attention to an issue that hits very close to home for her and clearly a lot of other people as well.
Without a doubt it seems Madelyn was subject to an unfair and sexist treatment.
Source: AWM
