STRUNG OUT
Fashion brand behind the VERY high-cut bikini mocked by women has responded to the controversy by raising awareness of cervical cancer
Beginning Boutique is urging women to book their cervical screenings
THE brand behind a controversial new high-cut bikini trend has responded to those who've mocked it - by urging women to book their cervical screenings.
A mum went viral for parodying Beginning Boutique's advert at the weekend, and its skimpy swimwear line has since been ridiculed online.
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In just a few days, a promotional shot of the retailer's racked up more than 149,000 comments and 35,000 shares.
One woman wrote: "I had a less intrusive smear test today," while a second joked: "I can't even sit like this in a normal bathing suit without my camel trying to stick its toe out and test the water."
Another labelled it a "cl** hammock", and one person asked: "Are we not meant to have vaginas in 2019?"
Now Beginning Boutique has turned the "smear test" comments into a positive, redirecting the attention to vaginal health.
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In a video posted to , owner Sarah Timmerman said: "We want to say a big thank you to everybody who brought vaginas to attention this week.
"This publicity that has been gained is not great when it is at the expense of another human being and through body shaming. We'd like to redirect this attention to cervical cancer.
"If you are over 25 and have not had a check recently, jump into a doctor. Because as you guys said, this swimwear is more evasive than a pap smear, and now you have no excuse."
She added that Beginning Boutique would donate 10 per cent of its profits from the viral pieces to , a breast cancer charity.
Sarah's message ended: "Together we can show that all vaginas are equal and deserve to be healthy and taken care of."
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Shoppers praised the brand for raising awareness of cervical screenings, with messages including: "I love that you are shining some light on this!" and: "It's so great you're doing something positive with this publicity."
However, some rejected the notion of "body shaming".
One person wrote: "Valuable redirection but I didn't see any comments 'body shaming'. The models are gorgeous - I think the commentary was more about a) the inclusivity of the clothing i.e. a very small % of women's labias would actually fit in that bikini."
Here's what to expect at a cervical screening test and it's really not bad at all!
Another said: "The donations are great, the opportunity to speak on something as important as cervical testing is great, what's not great is not acknowledging the issue that caused all of this to go viral in the first place.
"That being, that BB's stock is no longer friendly for A LOT of individuals and is in fact quite off-putting for new and existing consumers."
To this, Sarah replied: "'I appreciate your feedback and hopefully you enjoy the shoot that we did today with [Instagram star] Ariella Nyssa, it will be on socials in the next week.
"We will constantly work to improve ourselves."
Last month, Ariella received international attention for sharing an empowering message alongside an unedited photo of her cellulite.
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Ad campaign for Australian Beginning Boutique's 9.0 swimwear