Edmonton mom fighting back against bullying, after being mocked at Alberta Beach

CTV Edmonton: Facebook post going viral An Edmonton mother's Facebook post is being talked about around the world.

An Edmonton mother has made her fight against bullying public, after she said a group of people mocked her for wearing a bikini at Alberta Beach.

Tanis Jex-Blake, a 33-year-old mother of five, was at the popular summer destination with her children Monday, and said she had decided to wear a bikini for the first time in 13 years.

Jex-Blake said she had her eyes closed while sun tanning, when she overheard what a group of adults nearby were saying.

“I hear them saying, ‘Oh my God that’s [expletive] gross’ and ‘That’s nasty, look at that’,” Jex-Blake said. “And I was like, what’s going on?

“I open my eyes and two guys and a girl are leering over me pointing, laughing, pretending to kick me while I was sun tanning,” she said.

Initially, Jex-Blake said she was hurt, but her pain turned to anger – and she took her message to Facebook. The mother posted a photo of her stretch marks, and vented her frustrations in a lengthy post.

Post by Tanis Jex-Blake.

By Friday afternoon, the post had been shared nearly 4,000 times – and seen by millions.

“They have to have a real expectation about what real people look like, and it’s not the super model in the magazine,” Jex-Blake said.

It’s a post that went public July 29, but has since made headlines not only in Canada, but in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany.

The world-wide attention has surprised the mom, and inspired her – she’s planning to organize a bikini sit in.

As for the three people who inadvertently sparked the post in the first place, Jex-Blake said if they came forward, she doesn’t want an apology, but hopes they realize the impact of their actions, and change.

“Maybe if people get bully shamed online and it goes viral, maybe people will be less likely to be bullies,” she said.

With files from Brenna Rose