Students fed up with the media portraying beauty as a size two bashed scales on Ho Plaza on Monday to kick off the first ever Love Your Body Week at Cornell.
Love Your Body Week events focus on celebrating women of every size and give participants the opportunity to speak out against harmful images of women in the media. Sponsors of the week-long festivities, including the Cornell’s Women’s Resource Center (CWRC), Students Acting for Gender Equality (SAGE) and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center (LGBTRC), recognize that the media makes it virtually impossible for women to love what they see when they look in the mirror.
“What the media is portraying is not an accurate representation of women in America. Women strive to be like those unhealthy images on television, and that is unhealthy,” said Kelly Connison, director of CWRC.
The truth may be in the numbers. According to a brochure from Gannett Health Center, “a healthy woman of normal weight has 22 to 25 percent body fat. The media currently presents women with as little as 10 percent body fat.”
While there may be a number of women across the country with petite frames, this is not the norm.
“The diversity of women is what makes them truly beautiful,” said Bethany Sweeney ’05.
Throughout the week, students can celebrate their body by sending a love-your-body-gram, which consists of a necklace and a card, to someone who has positively affected their self-esteem.
The message behind the love-your-body gram is to tell a friend, “You’re the definition of beauty,” according to Serena Shulman ’06.
An erotic movement workshop will explore the myths and misconceptions regarding size and weight and discuss the definition of beauty in diverse cultures. Students will also have the opportunity to make t-shirts with positive body image messages.
Love Your Body Week continues today with the Day of Action, which involves souvenirs and crafts, as well as sending love-your-body-grams. This will take place on Ho Plaza from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Fat-Bottom Revue, the erotic movement workshop, is scheduled in the Robert Purcell Community Center Multi-purpose Room at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Archived article by Anne Ceccarini