PSA: Can We Stop Shaming Pregnant Anchors?

Maressa Brown

When Morgan Kolkmeyer, a meteorologist for Chicago's local news station WGN and an expectant mom, shared on Facebook that she had been shamed for not wearing maternity dresses on the air, it should have been a more gasp-worthy moment. But Kolkmeyer's experience echoes a ridiculous number of similar incidents.

Courtesy of Lynn Smith; Shutterstock; Courtesy of Becky Ditchfield (L-R) Lynn Smith, Ginger Zee, Becky Ditchfield

On October 11, Kolkmeyer, who announced in July that she and her husband are expecting their first child, shared on her own account that an unnamed viewer had posted on the WGN Morning News Facebook page, "Please tell the weather girl to get some maternity dresses. She is so pretty, but wearing regular dresses at this stage of pregnancy looks so trashy."

Her response: "If you think this (maternity) dress is tight, wait till you see me in 3 months. Love, Trashy Weather Girl."

Kolkmeyer's post was met with a wave of support, including over 1K reactions and 500 comments.

The Troubling Trend of Body Shaming Pregnant Anchors

The Chicago meteorologist joins an unfortunately large group of broadcast journalists who have faced similar shaming while they were pregnant.

In June, a former Miss American contestant-turned-meteorologist in Ohio named Ashlee Baracy told TODAY Style that when she was expecting, comments like “I thought your face looked fuller" soon turned into warnings that she was gaining too much weight and should watch her heart. "Another said I was covering up temperatures on the weather map during my broadcasts," Baracy said.

She blasted her critics on social media, writing, "My weight gain is normal, my blood pressure is perfect."

In March 2019, Becky Ditchfield, who reports the weather for KUSA in Denver, told TODAY that she's routinely received mean messages from viewers complaining about her appearance. She shared on Instagram that one called her a freak whose belly sticks out "two miles." While discussing Ditchfield's experience, Al Roker pointed out how problematic it is that men are rarely called out in the same way for their appearance or size.

View this post on Instagram

Earlier this week someone wrote in telling me that I looked like a “freak with (my) belly sticking out 2 miles...” Today, I brought my handy tape measure to work to verify if this was, in fact, true. Let’s begin. 1 mile = 63,360 inches. According to picture #1 my belly sticks out approximately 6” from where my stomach normally sits, when I’m working out, and in great shape. Therefore, the 2 mile assessment is FALSE. However, I also understand that perception is everything. So I asked our maintenance guys for measurements of our blue screen in the backyard and green screen inside. For comparison purposes, I’ve decided to go with the blue screen measurements since the camera never captures the entire indoor chroma key. The blue screen measures 8’ 4” wide by 2’ 5” tall. 8’ 4” = 100 inches Since my belly measures an extra 6 inches out from my “normal” stomach, then that means it’s only taking up 6% more blue screen space when I stand to the side. Now, I’ve also included a map that shows our typical statewide view. From west to east, this measures 770 miles. If 100” = 770 miles on the map, then 1 inch would equal 7.7 miles. So if I’m standing in front of the statewide map, then my belly is taking up a whopping 46.2 miles. 😍 And that means this person MUST be giving me a compliment because that is A LOT more than 2 miles! The reality is, the bump is just a little bigger than a basketball that’s been cut in half. The official circumference of a basketball used in the NBA is 29.5” C= 2🥧r As seen by my back measurement and measurement of the belly, the radius of the bump is somewhere between 5.75” and 6”. That makes the circumference of my baby bump between 36.11 and 37.6 inches. And if you want to measure it’s volume... V= (4/3)🥧r^3 If r=6”, then the volume of my baby belly is 904 cubic inches... or approximately 1/2 a cubic foot. So to the people out there who are offended by the (giant) life growing inside me, let’s please be accurate when sending me your hate mail. BTW. Still Pregnant.

A post shared by Becky Ditchfield Murray (@becky_ditchfield) on Mar 21, 2019 at 2:47pm PDT

The epidemic has hit nationally-known broadcasters, as well. In early 2018, ABC meteorologist and then-expectant mom Ginger Zee was similarly criticized for wearing a form-fitting dress that showed off her growing bump. "You have complained about being pregnant for months," the female viewer tweeted. "Who chose that dress?" Zee replied, "I don't remember complaining. I remember being quite happy about it. And I am responsible for hiring or choosing my own wardrobe—so, me!”

And if you thought the issue was uniquely American, think again. Pregnant anchors have been shamed overseas, as well. In 2015, Australian anchor Sarah Harris was targeted by viewers and told her critics off on the air, saying, "I thought, you know what? Bugger it. I'm growing a baby. I hope those photos of me make other pregnant women feel better about their bodies, because I'm kind of fed up with the body shaming that happens when you're pregnant and the pressure that comes afterwards to lose the baby weight."

Lynn Smith, HLN anchor, host of On The Story and mom of two, can relate to her fellow journalists' frustrations.

"I've had my fair share of comments reminding me I was getting 'bigger' on viewer’s televisions, and I’ve always understood it’s a sad reality of this profession," she tells Parents.com. "No matter how hard I work writing and reporting, the vast majority of 'comments' are on my appearance—good and bad."

Smith has also received comments after giving birth that are just as disturbing as the comments during her pregnancy. "'Wow, that baby weight is really starting to come off,' said an actual viewer," Smith notes." "After you bring a human into the world, keep said human alive each day, and then dive back into an extreme profession, the pressure to take off your baby weight is unrealistic. Babies are important—not baby weight."

What People Need to Know

The good news is that the response to all of these women's stories was a groundswell of supportive commentary, which likely drowned out the far fewer nasty voices behind each shaming incident. But as long as anchors continue to be targeted by some viewers' vile, superficial words, we have a major problem—one that's rooted in sexism—and priorities that are fully out-of-whack. Broadcast journalism might be a visual media, but no pregnant anchor owes it to their viewers to look or dress a certain way.

As Smith implores viewers, "Please don’t assume it’s OK to comment on a woman’s body. Not when a woman is pregnant, after a woman is pregnant, or if a woman is thinking about getting pregnant. It’s never OK."