Penn celebrates 'Love Your Body' Day

Four out of every five women want to lose weight, according to the National Organization for Women Foundation. While this may not be surprising to some, given that women around the world are constantly faced with the glorification of the size zero and Hollywood’s standard of beauty, some women at Penn want to change this.

Thursday is the launch of “Love Your Body” Day, a two-day campaign to promote self acceptance under the slogan of “breaking down stigmas and embracing ourselves.” “Love Your Body” Day at Penn is jointly organized by the Penn Women’s Center, Penn Consortium of Undergraduate Women and Rodin College House.

The “Love Your Body” campaign was launched by the NOW Foundation 12 years ago. The initiative has garnered support among many campus groups, high schools and “women’s advocates everywhere” according to a NOW Foundation’s press release.

This week’s events include a lunchtime roundtable discussion on cultural standards of beauty and the “Claim Your Beauty” Fashion Show on Thursday.

On Friday at noon, the Penn Women’s Center will host a discussion on “Sex Myths and Sexual Health,” featuring a question-and-answer session with a panel of doctors, nurses and Office of Health Education staff.

College sophomore Rebecca Duncan, who serves as the head of marketing for the campaign at Penn, wrote in an e-mail that she is “very optimistic about change.”

She believes that the campaign, along with the “support of an enthusiastic, body-loving community” can enable the breaking down of barriers.

College sophomore Catherine Kipsang said she finds this campaign helpful because she feels that the pressure of conforming to a particular image is more prominent in the United States than it is in her home country, Kenya.

“Society back home doesn’t care much for women who are thin, but even that doesn’t deter women in Kenya who feel the need to live up to western ideals of beauty,” she said.

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