Major News Outlet Wants Feminist Author to Explain How She Lost the Baby Weight

Jessica Valenti has a baby and a new book. And like any proud new book-parent, she’s been promoting the book by pitching pieces to other news outlets about topics covered in the book. But one outlet in particular wasn’t interested so much in her feminist take on society’s depiction of pregnancy and parenthood. Instead, they were interested in learning how she, author, thinker, and feminist, lost her baby weight. Oh, brother.

Why Have Kids? turns a critical eye toward the decision to become a parent and, like Valenti’s other books (The Purity Myth, He’s a Stud, She’s a Slut, etc), practically begs to open new discussions about old tropes in the national media. Valenti explains, via her blog, that when she pitches book-related pieces, sometimes she gets pushback. She just didn’t expect the type of pushback she got from one outlet. Here’s an excerpt,

Would Jessica be interested in writing something about weight loss after having a baby? We’re doing a lot of coverage around Jessica Simpson’s efforts to lose the baby pounds, and we’d love to hear from Jessica Valenti about what it was like for her to shed the weight. She can get as personal as she’d like-our readers love personal stories. Along with the actual process of losing weight (what she ate, when she exercised, etc), it would be interesting if she could focus on setting realistic expectations for yourself as a new mom. I feel like a lot of conversation among our audience has turned to the fact that new mothers aren’t prepared for the onslaught of all the worrying that comes with having a baby, including her looks.

That request is made even assier when you consider the fact that, as Valenti explains, her baby was born 3 months early.