Step away from that mirror and stop analyzing yourself. Don't start thinking, "Look how fat I am," and "I need to lose 10 pounds." These phrases are banned from college campuses nationwide this week as part of Delta Delta Delta sorority's Fat Talk Free Week.
The program began on Monday and runs through Friday. Fat Talk Free Week is part of an organization called Reflections that tackles women's body-image concerns. Reflections works in conjunction with Seventeen, National Organization for Women, National Eating Disorders Association, Academy for Eating Disorders and Oxford University Press to promote healthy body images.
And Reflections is now working with the sorority to help bring an end to these insecurities on college campuses.
For the remainder of the week, TriDelta invites Penn women to visit them on Locust Walk to throw away their negative body-image thoughts. Stop by their table, write down something discouraging about your body and then crumple it up and throw it away.
They are also advising women not to glance in mirrors so they can learn to be comfortable in their own skin. But this positive self-image doesn't need to stop here. The TriDelta girls want there to be a change of lifestyle, not just one week free of Fat Talk.
According to TriDelta member and College sophomore Becky Heller, participants so far have been excited to look in the mirror and not think about their insecurities. Heller, who participated in the act of throwing away her negative thoughts, said it felt good even though it is such a simple activity.
Jen Poon, Wharton sophomore and another TriDelta sister said, "It's a great thing because it makes people aware of how self-conscious we are." She added that women need to stop giving society what it wants and start giving their bodies what they need.
According to a flyers distributed by TriDelta, over 10 million women in the U.S. suffer from an eating disorder and over half the women in the U.S. ages 18 to 25 would rather be hit by a truck than be fat.
TriDelta sisters want students to pledge to end Fat Talk today and alter these statistics. "It's scary stuff, especially at a school like Penn where we're all striving to be perfectionists," Heller said.
Keep an eye out for TriDelta and Reflections in the spring. A more in-depth program involving body-image issues coupled with personal feelings and insecurities will be coming to Penn's campus.
