Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat A Story of Bulimia

Stephanie Covington Armstrong does not fit the stereotype of a woman with an eating disorder. She grew up poor and hungry in the inner city. Foster care, sexual abuse, and overwhelming insecurity defined her early years. But the biggest difference is her race: Stephanie is black. In this moving first-person narrative, Armstrong describes her struggle as a black woman with a disorder consistently portrayed as a white woman's problem. Trying to escape her selfhatred and her food obsession by never slowing down, Stephanie becomes trapped in a downward spiral. Finally, she can no longer deny that she will die if she doesn't get help, overcome her shame, and conquer her addiction to using food as a weapon against herself.

Stephanie Covington Armstrong is a playwright and screenwriter who has written for Essence, Mademoiselle, Sassy, and Venice magazines. Her essay on bulima, "Fear and Loathing," is included in the forthcoming Norton anthology The Black Body. She lives in Los Angeles.