Body positivity can be difficult to maintain in today’s media-saturated society. From television shows to advertisements, the standards of a “perfect” body are promoted to no end, especially for women. With this harmful mindset, it can become hard to remember that identity is more than skin-deep. In response to this flaw in society springs Love Your Body Day, a movement which promotes self-love and a rejection of unrealistic, unhealthy beauty standards.
Last Friday, Oct. 2 the Brandeis chapter of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) organized an event to celebrate Love Your Body Day. Held in the Shapiro Campus Center (SCC) atrium, it also had representation from Triskelion (Trisk) and the Women of Color Alliance. The event consisted of various tables with different activities to promote body positivity. These ranged from a large poster where students could write what makes them feel beautiful, to a T-shirt making station with “I Love My Body” stencils, to a life-size cutout of a body on which students could choose their favorite body part and stick a Post-It note there with a reason for being proud.
With pop music playing in the background and volunteers handing out “I Love My Body” stickers, the entire event was infused with positivity and acceptance. It was also beneficial that the event took place in the SCC, as anyone going to Einstein’s or simply walking through the building saw all the tables and was greeted by cheerful FMLA members giving out stickers and spreading body positivity.
“Love Your Body Day does a great job of using hands-on activities, presentations and crafts to show the importance of loving yourself,” said Emma Curnin ’19, an FMLA member who attended the event. And this hands-on approach was one of the event’s most successful aspects, as it let students engage more closely with the presentations and apply the event’s messages to themselves individually. It is one thing to promote a movement, but something else entirely to have it resonate personally with people.
Love Your Body Day was well-advertised, with flyers posted all over campus with the date and time of the event. Each flyer also featured an FMLA member who chose a certain body part to be photographed and captioned the photo with a reason for why they love that part of their body. For example, some posters read, “I love my breasts because they’re unique to my body” and “I love my stomach because other people tell me not to.” This was a great way for body positivity to spread to the entire campus, especially because it used real student perspectives.
However, there are improvements to be made. One problem with the event was that it ended rather abruptly. An announcement was made by FMLA members that all the tables were being cleaned up, and the overwhelming impression was that the end of the event signified the end of Love Your Body Day. Rather than encouraging a continuation of body positivity ideas, there was a lack of suggestions for furthering body positivity around campus. But Love Your Body Day shouldn’t end just because a three-hour event in the SCC is coming to a close; its implications should be reinforced throughout campus every day. This was unfortunately downplayed at the end of the event, which fell a bit flat.
FMLA does other work on campus related to the empowerment of feminists regardless of gender, race and other backgrounds. It would have been more useful if they’d mentioned the next FMLA event or even its weekly meeting information; students already at the Love Your Body Day activities could very well have been interested in getting more involved with FMLA.
For me, the event was a refreshing reminder that while it may not be easy to love every part of your body, it’s one of the most important aspects of self-care. Amidst the studying, club or sports commitments and overall stress of college life, self-care can often be overlooked. Being both content and proud with your body is the first step. And despite the disappointing end to the event, I hope that the spirit of Love Your Body Day remains on campus in the weeks to come.
