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Gossip is one of the oldest family pastimes, but it rarely stays harmless.

One woman was eating dinner with her family when the conversation turned to two women they knew who wore eyelash extensions and had undergone cosmetic surgery.

The comments quickly became cruel, with her relatives calling the woman cartoon-like and ugly.

The woman tried to ignore it at first, but eventually she told them to stop talking badly about people they didn’t even know.

Her family insisted they weren’t doing anything wrong and said they were free to say whatever they liked.

By the end of the night, she was being called a bad person for standing up for the women. Then her mom made matters worse by giving an unsettling ultimatum.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for telling my family to stop talking about strangers bodies??

So I was having dinner with my family when, out of nowhere, they started talking about two women they know who have eyelashes and have gotten some cosmetic surgeries.

At first, I was ignoring it, although I think it’s wrong to talk about someone else’s body and face.

Her family’s comments kept growing ruder and ruder.

At one point, it was starting to get annoying, because they were really saying awful things about them (like that they looked like cartoons and that they thought they were ugly).

Finally, she decides to stick up for these poor strangers — and her family immediately got defensive.

I told them that they should stop talking badly about someone they don’t even know, and they told me they weren’t.

I kept trying to tell them why that wasn’t right, but then they started saying that they have the liberty to talk about whatever they want because they’re free.

Then her family started putting all the guilt back on her, and they gave her a pretty unsettling ultimatum.

At the end of the conversation, they basically told me that I’m a bad person for being angry at them because of that. My mother told me not to do it again, or they won’t clean the mold in my room (which is affecting me because of asthma).

I don’t feel like I have done anything wrong for telling them not to talk about that, but idk, now I feel a bit bad.

AITA?? Did they have the right to talk about those women in that way??

This family doesn’t sound like the nicest people to ever walk the earth.

What did Reddit have to say?

Sometimes all you can do with toxic people is keep your distance.

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This user plays devil’s advocate.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who has to explain to her kids why they can’t keep the baby snake they found as a pet.

This user condemns the family’s behavior in the strongest possible terms.

This woman had more decency at the dinner table than the rest of her family combined. Two strangers were being mocked for their faces, and she was the only person willing to say it was wrong. That took nerve, especially when her own relatives were the ones laughing.

But at the end of the day, her mom’s threat about the mold was the real problem. Threatening someone’s health escalates an already problematic story into something totally indefensible

Speaking up wasn’t wrong. The threat was.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.