Screw the #dadbod. Let's celebrate the #mumbod.

Men with beer bellies are the new sex symbols, people.

“There’s nothing sexier than an out-of-shape, middle-aged woman,” writes no opinion piece, ever. “Stretch marks and cellulite are the mark of a woman who is secure in her attractiveness, her sexuality and her strength.”

“Let’s face it, a woman who is past her prime is the sexiest woman of all.”

Love your lines! Everyday women are showing their stretch marks to the world.

This is not the message you will be reading on every pop-culture website in the western world today.

Nope, the message you will be reading is this one: flabby guys are sexy.

A post written by a young woman called Mackenzie Pearson in praise of out-of-shape men has gone viral. Labelled #dadbod, the college student wrote about the curious phenomenon of young women her age fancying men who look like they drink and eat and work out once a week = the #dadbod.

In part, it went like this:

In case you haven’t noticed lately, girls are all about that dad bod. I hadn’t heard about this body type until my roommate mentioned it… The dad bod is a nice balance between a beer gut and working out. The dad bod says, “I go to the gym occasionally, but I also drink heavily on the weekends and enjoy eating eight slices of pizza at a time.” It’s not an overweight guy, but it isn’t one with washboard abs, either.

And unsurprisingly, the dudes are loving it. #dadbod is trending. #dadbod is a pride movement #dadbod is giving all the slightly flabby guys an excuse to ignore the shredders and feel good about themselves.

Here are some #dadbod pin-ups:

There is something so very undeniably male about the mass embracing of the #dadbod. Something that speaks to the age-old cliche that a man looks in a mirror and sees the best in himself, and women look in the mirror and sees the worst.

Man up? The photo of Larry Emdur you really shouldn’t send to your husband.

Broadly speaking, the idea of being  proud enough of our perceived flaws to celebrate them is an entirely alien concept.

We look in the mirror at our stretch-marked, baggy stomachs and feel shame.

We make to the gym a couple of times a week to tone up our “tuckshop arms” and all we see is all the bits we didn’t tighten.

We gain a kilo or two and we see it as a personal failure, a badge of laziness, a black mark against us.

The idea of being celebrated for being our ordinary selves is not something we are used to. No-one is writing in praise of the #mumbod.

Of course, it’s complicated. The worth of a man is not culturally linked to his appearance. There are many different ways for a man to win status in the world. But for women – still, for women – hotness is valued over all things.

Even if you’re a mum. Even if you’re a rocket scientist. Even if you’re running a company, or a country… You will still be made to feel like you are somehow failing at womanhood if you don’t fit the teeny-tiny model that’s been carved out for us.

And so. In the spirit of (whisper it, people) being a little bit more like The Guys, and embracing our imperfections as an advantage, rather than a hindrance, we’re jumping on the #mumbod trend.

Another “mum bod” we love: A supermodel shows off her stretch marks. Women everywhere forgive her for everything.

We asked some of our favourite women to take a picture of a part of their body that they see as a “problem”.

We asked them to snap it, and post it here to remove its power.

You don’t have to be a mother to have a #mumbod. You just have to be the female equivalent of the men in the gallery above us – ordinary, a little bit soft around the edges and bearing some markers that life has left on you.

Tummies, boobs, thighs, arms, spider veins.

It’s just stuff. It’s just us. Let’s celebrate it, #dadbod style, and maybe, just maybe, one day a young college guy will write a post in celebration of us.

But we won’t read it. Because, who needs that kind of validation?

A man with a beer belly, that’s who.

Would you share a picture the part of your body you like the least?