This year, I joined a club. While doing such a thing is not always advisable in your junior year, when you already have many commitments, challenging classes, and plans for the future to spend your time on, I decided that this particular club was worth it. I have joined the Body Image Council, a club dedicated to addressing body image issues on campus. I feel that these issues are very important to talk about and work on, because so many people have to battle with these issues in private for fear of being stigmatized and judged. I joined this club because I want to help make this a subject that people can freely talk about, if they want, without having to worry about these negative consequences.

I am writing about this now because this week is Body Positivity week, sponsored by the Body Image Council. There are a lot of events happening on campus, such as a free yoga class, a film screening, and clothes donations. Yesterday, I tabled for the event in the campus center to let people know about body positivity week. In addition to handing out informational flyers, our table had a huge piece of paper with the words “What do you love about your body?” on it. The idea was simple: people were invited to write the things they loved about their bodies on the paper. IT was a challenge for me. In order to get people to come over, you have to call out to random strangers and ask them if they want to write something they love about their bodies. I’m not all that outgoing, and people generally don’t like to be solicited.

When I initially called out to people they seemed wary. Unless Girl Scout cookies are involved, it’s hard to get people excited on a Monday. When they realized that they would get the chance to talk about what they loved about their bodies, they surprised me. People smiled. Lots of people came over and wrote on the poster. It turned out; people had a lot of things to say about their bodies. Some of them were simple, like “I like my eyes”, and some were a little more involved, like descriptions of the things that their bodies let them do. A lot of them walked away smiling, and it made me glad to be a part of this club.