Body Acceptance Week 2023- Monday
Let's Talk All Things Body Awareness
“Let's Talk: Talking Body” with Fallon Weatherspoon & Maddy McDonough
- Monday, 2/27 – 10:00 AM-12:00 PM
- Women's Center
Let’s Talk is a program for all Northwestern students that offers drop-in consultations (in-person and virtual) with a CAPS staff. The consultation meetings are informal, friendly, and confidential. This week please Join Fallon Weatherspoon (Eating Concerns Coordinator with CAPS) & Campus Dietitian, Maddy McDonough) for support regarding all things Body as we observe National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. If you are having difficulties with food, body image, or in need of support please know that we are here to help.
Let’s Talk is not a substitute for formal counseling and doesn't constitute mental health treatment, but the Let’s Talk consultants will listen to your specific concerns, offer support, resources, and introduce you to what it’s like to speak to a member of our staff.
There are many terms around body acceptance and awareness. Let's explain.
Body image is complex.
- In the most basic terms, it is defined as what you believe and how you feel about your physical appearance.
- While there’s absolutely no “right” or “wrong” approach to body image, you may have come across some similar but separate philosophies and terms.
Body Positivity (“I love my body”)
- Encourages individuals to love “their bodies regardless of shape, size, gender, or ability”.
- Roots in the 1960s Fat Acceptance Movement
- Evolved over time with the emergence of social media (especially Instagram)
- Now often criticized as being co-opted by commercial interests
Body Acceptance (“My body is good enough and deserves respect and care”)
- Focuses on accepting the body as it is in a non-judgmental way
- Making peace with your body
- It’s OK to not feel good about your body all the time; try to examine these feelings through a flexible and curious lens
- “Where is this feeling coming from, how can I find peace in existing in this body?”
Body Neutrality (“I do not love or hate my body”)
- Prioritizes the body’s function and what it can do over its appearance
- Emerged from critiques of the body positivity movement
- Liking your body is not a requirement for loving yourself
- Gratitude for what your body can do
Body Liberation (“I am more than my body”)
- Promotes inclusivity, body autonomy, fat acceptance, and size diversity
- Freedom from systems of oppression, including weight stigma and size discrimination, to create a safe space for all bodies to exist
- Separates a person’s self-worth from their body or appearance
- Intersectional, centers voices of marginalized communities
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