I became a first-time mom this past summer at age 48, after a pandemic in early 2021 and three years of waiting to adopt. When I finally had my baby in my arms, I vowed to myself to do everything right. Yet when I searched for how to write a birth announcement, my hackles were immediately raised.
Among the details most sites suggested I include was my baby's weight. While I’m well aware, having been born over three months early and hovering just under two pounds (880 grams), that weight is one of the key indicators of health for newborns, I couldn’t help but think about the message that blasting this information out in a card would send. American culture is obsessed with weight and body size, especially for women, a phenomenon that has only ramped up since I watched “Family Ties” actor Meredith Baxter-Birney star in bulimia TV movie “Kate’s Secret” in 1986.
Yes, we’ve made progress in terms of plus-size and fat clothing and seeing more non-stick-thin performers on TV, in movies and on stages, but we’ve hardly conquered the issue of weight stigma. My daughter is entering a household parented by a mom who spent much of her college years bingeing and purging. I spent the end of high school and the next few years obsessed with only eating the “right” foods; a can of chopped mushrooms was a treat I devoured without guilt.
When I binged because I was always hungry, I learned how to throw up what I’d eaten to get rid of both the food and the feeling of being .
