Students reached for fabric markers and pasted stickers on their shirts in celebration of “Love Your Body Day” on Ho Plaza yesterday afternoon.
Sponsored by Students Acting for Gender Equality (SAGE) and Gannett: University Health Services, the event allowed passers-by to stop at tables to make t-shirts in the name of promoting healthy body images.
“Everyone was really open and into the idea. People were interested even though they had class — they really made an effort to ask questions,” said Elaine Poon ’03, co-president of SAGE.
Gannett sponsored the day for the third year in a row, supporting the theme that was created by the National Organization of Women to raise awareness about “the destructive ideas of beauty in the media and to educate the community about eating disorders.”
Representatives from Gannett sat at a table providing literature and information about health concerns, eating disorders and women’s health issues while members of SAGE passed out fabric markers and white t-shirts to those interested in the cause.
“This is going really well. It has been so good to let people be creative and to express their love for their body,” said SAGE member Wendy Soref ’04.
“Having people sit down at tables to make the shirts really got people talking to each other. There was a real sense of community,” Poon said.
SAGE addresses issues both on and off campus including diversity, feminism, abortion rights, body image and gender equality. One of the biggest events the organization sponsors is Take Back the Night, a rally to raise awareness about domestic abuse.
“We really try to widen the scope of feminism on campus,” said Renee Hillair ’03, who worked at SAGE’s table.
SAGE is also working with the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan, an anti-Taliban organization that is coming to campus later this semester to speak about the lives and conditions of women in Afghanistan.
Archived article by Alison Thomas