Learning to live - with dessert

When looking at that warm, moist, frosting-covered piece of chocolate cake, stop deciding and go for it. Give in to your hunger. That was part of the message delivered yesterday morning at a conference entitled "Body Image and Judaism: Accepting Ourselves, Body and Soul." Drawing a crowd of more than 50 female students, almost all of whom were Jewish, the program kicked off Body Image Awareness Week, a five-day series of events designed to bring awareness to self-esteem issues as they relate to body image. Sponsored by groups like Guidance for Understanding Image, Dieting and Eating, the Jewish Renaissance Project, Connaissance and Penn Hillel, the conference attempted to debunk the myths of what it takes to be a successful woman in today's world. "To look at eating disorders is to look at the state of gender politics in this country," said keynote speaker Karen Smith, who told the audience that 95 percent of all people diagnosed with anorexia and bulimia are women. "Whereas the feminism of 30 years ago said, 'We're hungry, and we will be satiated,' we now have women saying, 'We need nothing,'" said Smith, who is a clinical social worker at the Renfrew Center, an organization that offers in-patient and out-patient treatment to women suffering from eating disorders. Smith argued that the self-sacrificial woman has become the icon of the modern world, a phenomenon that has proved detrimental. Today's woman, Smith said, should hunger for and go after her rights -- and her piece of cake. Smith, who will be releasing a new book entitled, From Chicken Soup to Going Nuts: Hungry Jewish Women and the Body of Our Tradition, offered an interpretation of eating disorders from a uniquely Jewish perspective. In Judaism, "Food is the transmission from mother to daughter," Smith said. It is only fitting then that young Jewish women would choose eating disorders as an expression of their conflicts, she said. And when compounded with the pressures successful women encounter in what Smith called the "Barbie Doll World," many women develop eating disorders because "the emaciated woman is the sexy woman." "Women think that they're not supposed to need," College senior Helisa Katz said in agreement. "I really liked the idea of giving permission to women to want." College sophomore Wendy Shiekman added, "I loved how Karen related the good versus the bad, and how hunger in life is actually a good thing." While the discussion was geared toward Jewish women on campus, the program was intended to appeal to all women who are struggling with eating disorders. College junior Miriam Kiss, one of the organizers of yesterday's conference, said the goal was to "educate students and let them know that people are talking about the issue." "We are kind of tying the problem in with Judaism, but I think you would enjoy the conference if you weren't Jewish," College senior Jordana Riklis said. The program also highlighted a number of resources open to Penn students. Counseling and Psychological Services, Student Health Services, the Women's Center and GUIDE all offer free and confidential services ranging from counseling and treatment to nutrition guidance and information.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.