‘Controversial’ Australian Bachelor Contestants Who Fell in Love Strip Down and Stand Up to Critics
Two Bachelor Australia contestants who found love with each other are facing down their critics.
Tiffany Scanlon and Megan Marx revealed their relationship in October and have since faced accusations that their relationship is merely a social media-driven showmance.
Now, as they serve as cover girls for Maxim Australia, the women have each shared a series of Instagram posts explaining their reasons for doing the lingerie-clad photo shoot and giving insight about why they continue to keep their love story in the public eye.
In a post on Wednesday, Scanlon pointed out to her followers on Instagram that, even though she’s become more well-known, she is still “real human being with real human emotions.”
“I’m excited and I’m super proud of what @megan.leto.marx and I have achieved here.I knew it would be controversial, i knew it would ruffle feathers, i knew there would be criticism and judgement but guess what, I did it anyway!” wrote the self-proclaimed “experience junkie.”
Not pulling any punches, she clapped back at her critics: “If you think that this is some fake anti feminist lesbianised sexual male fantasy then you are only aiding in the judgemental backward thinking of society whether you are straight, gay, bi or however else you choose to label yourself.”
She also noted, “I have always and will always continue to advocate acceptance and no labels in all areas of life. I don’t label myself or my relationship; I simply live and love and create life on my own terms.”
Scanlon wrote in another post: “In standing up for yourself and for others sometimes you take a little battering but the encouragement and love I have received helps pick me up and keep going.”
For her part, Marx pointed out, “If you took the whole same-sex ‘issue’ out of our relationship, it would still be untraditional. We ordinate our own life and love terms, and somehow it works.”
Marx also anticipated forthcoming questions about the racy photo shoot (which falls in line with their previous social media tributes to another), half-joking on Instagram: “Some of you think that the cover fetishises lesbianism- I do get that (hey, I fetishise it too I guess-I like women!),” but told her followers that “your voice has a point.”
Marx continued, “At the same time I wanted to note that Tiffany and I aren’t specifically trying to break down the attitudes of men, we are trying to increase the normalisation of desire and love in any form.”
Shedding light on her own background, Marx spoke of a previous failed marriage at 18 and revealed, “Sometimes I forget that once upon a time, I was the religious nut with terrible and harmful ideas- and even though I am still human and still learning, I have changed and grown- and that is due to non-pushy ideology slowly turning me to the light.”
As for the sultry shoot itself, Marx told Maxim she and Scanlon “wanted to go for a look that really represented our characters and lifestyle — organic, beachy and a bit sexy.”
