Your body IS beautiful. I hope you’ve heard that from someone else this week, but if not, at least now you’ve heard it from me. If you’re Instagram newsfeed has not alerted you, this past week, Amherst’s SHEs (Student Health Educators) have led students in celebrating the third annual “My Body is Beautiful” week on campus. Some of the events for this week included a film screening, a talk with Professor Sanderson on psychology and body image, and dinners for Amherst men and women to discuss body image. With help from social media like Facebook and Instagram, SHEs are spreading the word that all Amherst students have beautiful bodies.
I was fortunate this week to attend Professor Sanderson’s talk on Wednesday night. I took away a few interesting facts: environment does impact our eating, as well as mood and presentation. We live in a culture that glorifies thinness, and the consequences of that affect women across cultures and ethnicities, especially those who have been exposed to Western culture. This glorification of thinness affects girls even as young as three years old.*
Most important for us, however, is that this cultural belief in thinness seems to hit college students hardest. Professor Sanderson described a study in which she asked first-semester, first-year, female college students what their weight was, and what weight they perceived their female peers was. Their response? 130 lbs. and 130 lbs. At the end of their second semester, Professor Sanderson asked them the same question. Due to the “Freshman 15” some of these young women had gained weight; this time, when they answered, these students responded 135 lbs and 125 lbs., respectively. Thus, they perceived that as they gained weight, others had lost it, when, in fact, their peers were likely gaining the “Freshman 15” as well.
So what does this mean for us? According to psychologists, it means that the greater the discrepancy is between our weight and others’ weight, the more we show signs of disordered eating and body dysmorphia. In other words, I am aware of my weight in a way that no one else is. In a way, this is good news! I can breathe easier knowing that the most critical person scrutinizing my weight is myself. But with that knowledge, comes responsibility not to compare myself to others.
Comparisons always make me feel worse because there has to be a loser. When it comes to my body, there are certain places I consider myself a “winner” and “loser.” There always has been, and no matter how much I eat or exercise, there always will be. At Amherst, our proximity makes it easy for us to compare everything, eating, exercising, sleeping, grades, etc. The potential to compare is exhaustive to the same extent that actually making comparisons is exhausting. So that’s why “My Body is Beautiful” week makes me want to stop with the comparisons. I want to celebrate what my body is “winning,” but also celebrate what other people’s bodies are “winning.” I’ve learned this week that I want to carry pride on my tray in Val, and walk with it into the gym. I want to look at myself and at others, knowing that we are not seeing our bodies the same, or that we even have the same bodies, but that we are all beautiful.
To learn more: http://www.rehabs.com/explore/dying-to-be-barbie/#.Uxi8TGCDiCZ
Also, here’s the link to an article by SHE, Katie Warshaw ’16 for more information: http://amherststudent.amherst.edu/?q=article/2014/03/04/body-image-amherst-and-beyond
And finally, a link to a video the SHEs made announcing “My Body is Beautiful” week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWPeE1RQEYI