Women’s Center to offer variety of activities for Love Your Body Day
Anna Cmolik has a quote displayed in her apartment that reads, “The only way to gain confidence is to do what you’re most afraid of.”
Cmolik, a senior studying adolescent/young adult education and integrated social studies, will be one of many student planning on attending The Women’s Center’s “Love Your Body Day,” a day of body positive events on Wednesday.
The day gives the opportunity for individuals to learn more about the cultural stigmas surrounding body image, how to combat them and embrace the body you have.
“I’m trying to work on (loving my body),” Cmolik said.
The event commences at 9 a.m., featuring hour-long sessions throughout the day until 6:30 p.m. in the center. These events include “Office Yoga,” “The VOX Know Your Body Challenge,” “Body Hair Hoopla,” “You Say Vagina, I say Va-Jay-Jay: What’s Up Down There?” “I'm a Viking!: Whose Body is This Anyway?" and “Straight or Curly: What’s the Difference to You?”
One session is entitled “Disobedient Bodies: Corporeal Feminist Performance” and will be led by Jennie Klein, associate professor of art history.
Klein’s discussion will focus on feminist performance artists who have done work about nontraditional body types.
“You can’t help but internalize what the culture says about fatness, so I’m looking at these women who engage with this issue,” Klein said.
Physical appearance is relative, and attractiveness in today’s generation cannot be defined as attractiveness in a subsequent generation, Klein said.
“These are going to be ongoing issues,” Klein said. “My point is not just that we have to accept our body, but that we need to stop being distracted by what we look like.”
All genders are encouraged to attend this event.
“I hope that (Love Your Body Day) gives people some validation for their bodies. It gives people the opportunity to know that we're here, that we care about you and that you're fine,” said Sarah Jenkins, program coordinator the Women’s Center and LGBT centers.
Cmolik believes that criticizing your body is something everyone can work on.
“I want to be the one to fight against it,” Cmolik said.
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