This week is “Eating Disorder Awareness Week,” and I feel it is important to bring to light the issues that college women have to deal with, especially our image.
I’m a 19-year-old sophomore who is overly confident in almost all aspects of my life. I say I’m the smartest, funniest, and most worldly person I know. But when it comes to my body and size, I always second-guess myself.
I’ll be honest with you, I’ve got a bit of a butt and some thighs to support it. My stomach isn’t flat and my arms haven’t been toned since I played high school softball.
But I have to say, I’m an average-sized girl. I wear size-8 jeans, (they are a little too tight but that’s what college will do to you) a small to medium size top, and I stand at a staggering height of 5 feet two inches tall. I enjoy working out, but I also enjoy eating. I am involved in the Ohio University Marching 110 (which is more strenuous than you may think) and go to the gym periodically… okay, not as often as I know I should.
Kranz (far left) with other members of band sorority Tau Beta Sigma.
The reason I don’t always feel so confident about my body is because I feel as if there are so many expectations for women, especially women in college. When you think of a ‘sorority girl,’ whom do you think of? How about an athlete? What is a softball player supposed to look like compared to a volleyball player? Stereotypes are created for all of these types of women and they are COMPLETELY wrong!
Women in college today can do anything they put their minds to. It doesn’t matter what size they may be. The best example I can give you is the Marching 110. There are women (and men) in the Marching 110 that range from a size 0 to a size 24 (that is a complete estimate, but I know there is a large range of shapes and sizes among the band members).
So how do I do it? How do I face looking at women who are a size 0? Women who are showing off crop tops and short-shorts at the clubs and bikinis on the beach during spring break? I hold my head high and keep my confidence high. If I can be confident in every other aspect of my life, why not this?
WOMEN SHOULDN’T BE ONE SIZE! We are short, tall, thick, thin, curvy, flat-chested, broad-shouldered and imperfectly perfect in every way. You don’t have to be as confident as I am to do it, but you do have to realize that you shouldn’t expect to look like that girl who is at the gym every day or the girl who never goes to the gym and is naturally a size 2 no matter what. The important thing is to be HEALTHY!
There are all these articles and pills and fad diets that are so dramatic and tell you that you can “lose 10 pounds in 5 days” or “burn belly fat fast.” Why do we have to do such drastic things to our bodies? Human bodies cannot handle it, let alone our hearts and our minds.
GIF: giphy.com
Ladies, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! Our hearts are full of love that is meant to be felt, and our minds are full of thoughts that are meant to be heard. Don’t you EVER feel like your size should affect who you are as a person.
I have never had an eating disorder, but I have done some very dramatic things to my body to try to lose weight. It’s not healthy, it’s not safe, and it’s NOT OKAY. Be confident in yourself but also be healthy.
If you ate too much or drank a few too many beers this weekend, go to the gym on Monday and have a salad for lunch. You don’t need to be harming your body any more by starving yourself or purging. Take care of yourself. Love yourself in a way that shows you’re confident no matter what people may think or how people assume a woman in college should look.
Am I still sensitive to comments about my weight or when I put on my bikini for the first time after winter break? Of course! But I’m getting better and I want you all to get better too. If we can hold our heads high and tell people that we all look perfectly imperfect, then we are one step closer to showing everyone how confident college women can be.
GIF: giphy.com