Get Your Teeth Checked - Battling Generations of Body Shame

[seaglass]

This is an essay by Paulina Pinksy that was mentioned this morning on GMA. She is the daughter of Dr Drew (I've heard his name often in passing, know he is famous but not really what he is about):

We were driving back from a family dinner at a posh Los Angeles restaurant, the kind whose clientele doesn’t dare to touch the breadbaskets. My mother could not stop blabbing about the owners of her gym, because that’s what you do when your daughter is home from her first year of college: “One time I went to dinner with them and they both ate steak and one order of French fries. But they still look amazing. But they split the fries...” I felt like I couldn’t even hear her. My ability to listen to my mother talk about her gym owners had disappeared when I had hit rock bottom four months prior and had put myself into therapy. Purging eight times in one day to cope with the emotional stress of being home during spring break had finally scared me enough to take action. And here I was again, stuck in a car with her.

Without even thinking, the words erupted from my mouth.

“Well I’d rather have an over-eating disorder than an under-eating disorder.”

She said, “You don’t mean that,” to which I replied, “Yes I do. I’ve already had an under-eating one.”

Without missing a beat, she responded, “No, you haven’t.”

I paused, but before I knew it, the words were out of my mouth. “Yes, I have. I’ve been throwing up since the seventh grade.”
...
After a silence that lasted far too long, she responded.

“Well, get your teeth checked.”

http://www.columbiaspectator.com/eye/2013/11/13/get-your-teeth-checked

I thought this deserved a thread of its own. I have some thoughts about this conversation and will likely update when I get a break from work.