Body shaming seems to have reached a new low after news anchor Laura Warren of WRDW-TV in Georgia, US received a call from a viewer saying her pregnancy bump made her look “disgusting.”

“Please go to Target and buy some decent maternity clothes so you don’t walk around looking like you got a watermelon strapped under your too tight outfits,” the viewer says in the recording Ms Warren uploaded on 4 July .

“Target’s got a great line of maternity clothes in case you’ve never heard of such a thing. You’re getting to where you’re being disgusting on the TV,” the viewer added.

But rather than immediately deleting or ignoring the hurtful message, Ms Warren decided action was the best choice of response.

In a blog post entitled “Sticks and Stones” Ms Warren explained how the viewer’s comments had affected her.

“Being pregnant is already one of the most emotional, insecure times of your life. Am I gaining too much weight? Am I gaining enough weight? Is my bump too high? Is my bump too low?”

Ms Warren explained that these insecurities are even more salient when you’re a news anchor.

“Throw yourself in front of a camera that adds 20 pounds every night, find clothes that not only fit, but also don't make you look like a whale, and cake on enough hair and makeup products twice a day to moonlight as a Las Vegas showgirl, and you'll understand where I'm coming from,” she wrote.

Despite being a “thick-skinned” journalist, the upsetting incident strongly affected Ms Warren, prompting her to recount which outfits she had worn that week.

Trying to understand the viewer, Ms Warren said the message had brought out her feminist side.

“Is that a WOMAN who called me?!? Is she a MOTHER?!?!? The freaking nerve...Do I really look disgusting?”

“I consider myself a confident, pretty secure, independent, woman. Why was I letting this one ridiculous, negative comment ruin my whole day?”

Ms Warren explained that comments such as this can stick despite the dozens of positive and congratulatory ones she had been receiving from viewers.

But the comments on her post echoed her positivity. An anonymous person wrote: “You are a BEAUTIFUL young lady! And the classy way that you handled this even shows that your beauty isn't skin deep. We appreciate your work and very soon that baby boy will too.”

“She’s just a stupid old woman that has nothing better to do than find fault in others to make herself feel better,” Rhetta Story wrote.

Inspiring body positivity quotes Show all 12 1 /12 Inspiring body positivity quotes Inspiring body positivity quotes Ashley Graham "And cellulite, I have not forgotten about you. I'm going to choose to love you even though you want to take over my whole bottom half. You're a part of me and I love you." Inspiring body positivity quotes Danielle Brooks "Sometimes I don't like what I see, but I have the power to change the way in which I relate to my body both physically and mentally." Inspiring body positivity quotes Iskra Lawrence "Stop comparing yourself to anybody else. The [pictures of] movie stars, even the Disney characters, that’s not real. That’s not attainable. You can’t be anybody else. You are you. You can’t be them. So you really just have to start embracing yourself and accepting so-called flaws that society has given the name ‘flaws’. It’s just our body, our patchwork quilt.” Inspiring body positivity quotes Beyoncé "The most alluring thing a woman can have is confidence." Getty Images Inspiring body positivity quotes Kate Winslet "Nobody is perfect. I just don't believe in perfection. But I do believe in saying, 'This is who I am and look at me not being perfect.' I'm proud of that." Getty Images Inspiring body positivity quotes Rihanna "You just want something that someone else has, but that doesn't mean what you have isn't beautiful, because people always want what you have and you always want what they have - no one is ever 100 per cent like, 'Yes, I'm the bomb-dot-com - from head-to-toe!" REUTERS Inspiring body positivity quotes Tess Holliday "Never compare yourself with others and celebrate what makes you, you." Inspiring body positivity quotes Demi Lovato "Instead of looking in the mirror and focusing on your flaws, look in the mirror and appreciate your best features... everyone has them." Inspiring body positivity quotes Kim Kardashian-West "See this little dimple of cellulite here? It was so worth it for that cookies 'n' cream ice cream!" Inspiring body positivity quotes Jennifer Lawrence "It should be illegal to call someone fat." Inspiring body positivity quotes Mindy Kaling "Insults about the way I look can’t be the thing that harms me and my heart the most. It has to harm me the least. If I have a daughter, I’m going to tell her that. Far too many women are much more hurt by being called fat or ugly than they are by being called not smart, or not a leader." Rex Features Inspiring body positivity quotes Selena Gomez "I’m learning that you can be comfortable and still look beautiful.” AFP/Getty Images

Ms Warren says the problem lies in bullying on a larger scale.

“Right now, we are living in a culture tolerating, often even encouraging bullies.

“Politicians, angry Democrats and Republicans, anonymous keyboard warriors, social media bullies....How do we teach our kids to be kind when adults all around them can say such cruel things?”

Ms Warren bravely posted in order to turn the viewer’s “negative energy into positive energy,” something multiplied by the supportive reactions.