The month of February is Love Your Body Month here at Rice. This month the Wellness Center holds events and activities to bring better awareness to body image issues on campus and tries to build self-esteem and enhance ways in which we all can start LOVING our bodies even more. There is no doubt that body image issues occur on all college campuses, but how are we doing here at Rice? Well according to the 2008 National College Health Assessment survey done taken by your peers, over HALF the population is exercising to lose weight, but about 80% of students fall within healthy to underweight Body Mass Index range. One can say, “Great, people like to take care of their bodies!” But where do we draw the line between caring for our bodies because of our health and caring for our bodies because we want to “look” a certain way. We should all start making our main goal to be the one that says we want our bodies to be the HEALTHIEST they can be and our bodies may start morphing into what we want them to look like from there. But we shouldn’t fall into traps of trying to compete with unrealistic standards set up by our society’s media.
Hollywood and the fashion, cosmetics and diet industries work hard to make each of us believe that our bodies are unacceptable and need constant improvement. Print ads and television commercials reduce us to body parts, airbrushed and touched up to meet impossible standards. TV shows tell women and teenage girls that cosmetic surgery is good for self-esteem. Is it any wonder that 80% of U.S. women are dissatisfied with their appearance? Ads on TV and in magazines tend to use the most idealized images of women—research has shown that exposure to these ads negatively impacts body image. Check out the link below to see your favorite celebs before and after photo shop pics. Then check out the videos, which give insight from one of the nation’s top photo-shoppers, and what he does to make celebs “perfect.” http://messynessychic.com/2010/10/12/the-reality-of-celebrity-photoshop-before-and-after/
Are you struggling to obtain the "perfect body"? Instead of changing your body, maybe it's time to change your "mind". The Wellness Center has teamed up with the Rice Counseling Center to bring you the evidenced based body image program "The Body Project." This class not only helps students discuss and challenge the media's "this ideal" but also provides a chance to help increase self-esteem and prevent eating disorders. New programs are starting Fall 2011 and all sessions are now open to all undergraduate and graduate females. Check out our web page and keep a look out for Fall 2011 dates.
http://wellness.rice.edu/thebodyproject/
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