In this calorie-counting, body-image-obsessed world we live in, it is sometimes hard to shake off the pressure to look perfect. The Body Image Coalition wrote a pledge to end the “fat talk” for a week. They set up a table in Founder’s lobby where people could make the commitment not to say negative things about their own bodies or the bodies of others.
The pledge read “Today I promise to eliminate fat talk from conversations with my friends, my family and myself for a week. Starting now, I will strive for a healthy ideal, which I know looks different for every person, and focus on health, not weight or size. I will celebrate the things about myself and the people in my life that have nothing to do with how we look. This week I will be FAT TALK FREE.”
Many students, faculty and staff chose to sign the pledge. A lot of the pledgers admitted that swearing off fat talk would be a challenge, but they understood the importance of having a positive self-image.
On Wednesday, Nov. 7, BIC had a movie night in Widener Lecture Hall. Students watched “America the Beautiful.” The film is about how America’s obsession with physical perfection is distorting the definition of beauty into something unattainable.
Fat Talk Free Week has been mildly successful in past years. Usually, BIC would just have the pledge signing in Founder’s lobby at the beginning of the week. This year Laura Rucci, the BIC president, and Sami Ysais, the other BIC president, planned the movie night as well to help promote health body image. They have a few good ideas to add on next year to really get the message out there!
The main goal of Fat Talk Free Week is to encourage people to stop dissing their bodies and to promote a positive body image. An increasing number of men and women are hurting themselves in order to obtain “the perfect body” that they see in magazines, advertisements and other forms of popular media.
Some deprive their bodies of necessary nutrients, expose themselves to harmful toxins, or under go surgery to become “beautiful”. In the quest for this beauty, people can go too far and sometimes it can result in death. Fat Talk Free Week is here to try to open every person’s eyes so that they can see that they are already truly perfect and beautiful.
When asked what the best piece of advice Fat Talk Free Week can offer students was, Laura Rucci said, “Love your body. It’s the only one you have!”
