As part of a nationwide effort to curb problems resulting from negative body image among college women, Tri Delta sororities across the country instated Fat Talk Free Week, starting on Monday. As part of the initiative, participants are banned from talking about their body weights in order to promote a healthy and positive self-image.
The importance of “fat talk” in the transition from high school to college is often underestimated. With many students living on their own and entirely responsible for feeding themselves for the first time, it is difficult not to get caught up in discussions about weight. The infamous “Freshman 15” plagues some while others develop obsessions with working out at FitRec to avoid those unwanted pounds.
Discussions about weight are everywhere in college, and sometimes seem impossible to avoid. With estimates from the National Eating Disorders Association indicating that almost 10 million women in the U.S. suffer from such as anorexia or bulimia. So much focus these days is placed on weight problems among young people, and while this is an important concern, attention must also be drawn to the problems on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Encouraging women to address this problem by temporarily banning weight-related conversations is a proactive step that will hopefully help people to realize the problems with attempting to attain a super-skinny ideal. Considering the popular perception of sororities across the country as organizations that push members to strive for unattainable body images, it is encouraging to see a group focused on combating this problem.
The women of Tri Delta should be commended for their efforts to raise awareness about an issue that often goes unaddressed on college campuses. However, the true test of their commitment to the cause will be in whether or not they can keep up the idea behind their vow of silence. Although it is unreasonable to expect young women to refrain from talking about their bodies completely, by introducing the idea of Fat Talk Free Week, at least they are drawing attention to the problem, which can only be beneficial in the long run.
The initiative could be even more effective if it were expanded to become a campus-wide project. If Fat Talk Free Week were to be adopted by all of the school’s sororities in future years, a lack of fat talk could become an even bigger and more important part of the campus conversation.
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