Abstract
Discourses surrounding motherhood function increasingly to police the parameters of women's bodies during pregnancy and postpartum. Rising against this trend is Jade Beall's "A Beautiful Body Project" honoring mothers' bodies in all their diversity. Using feminist rhetorical criticism, we investigate responses to the Facebook post announcing this project to gain an understanding of how commenters respond to Beall's effort to reclaim and redefine postpartum embodiment. We argue that the comments function to further the project of reclaiming and redefining the postpartum body; provide a therapeutic community where participants render visible their struggle with narrowly defined beauty norms; and resist, miss, or ignore the point of the project. Through a discussion of these comments, our article gives insight on feminist rhetorical resistance to postpartum body norms and the third shift of bodywork.