In an effort to end offensive conversations about body image among women, Delta Delta Delta sororities across the nation launched their third annual body activism campaign “Fat Talk Free Week” yesterday.
The week is part of the national Tri-Delta sorority’s Reflections: Body Image Program, which is tailored specifically toward Greek life and aims to promote a realistic, healthy female body image, according to the program’s website.
Fat Talk Free Week challenges women to put a voluntary ban on “fat-talk,” which the website describes as “all of the statements made in everyday conversation that reinforce the thin ideal and contribute to women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies.”
Ten million women in America have been diagnosed with eating disorders, according to the Reflections Body Image Program website.
The program invites women to create and post videos explaining how they are ending fat-talk, from which one winner will be selected based on the most popular video.
“Fat talk can be something as simple as saying “You look great, have you lost weight?’,” said BU’s Tri-Delta President Alex Stevens, a College of Arts and Sciences senior. “Preventing it is about promoting a healthy ideal versus a skinny ideal.”
This year, BU’s Tri-Delta chapter has opted not to expand the campaign beyond the sorority or host any events, Stevens said.
Stevens cited last year’s negative response from the community as the main reason for this narrowing trajectory.
“Coming out with a message like “prevent fat talk’ is pretty damaging for those who are not accepting of Greek life or those who are judgmental,” she said. “I don’t foresee it being a campus-wide event until more sororities step up and take on the message &- power in numbers!”
Within the chapter, an email was sent out to all members asking them to work to put a stop to fat-talk and suggesting daily exercises designed to boost their self-esteem, Tri-Delta sister and College of Fine Arts sophomore Laurel Weatherby said.
The email included an exercise that instructed members to look in the mirror for a couple of minutes each day and only think positive thoughts.
“I think it is a great initiative,” Weatherby said. “It teaches us that we don’t need to look like a Barbie doll to have self-esteem.”
Some Tri-Delta members said they would like to see the movement spread across campus.
“I feel like all girls should be participating in this,” said Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences sophomore Ellie Mockler. “Everyone has body image issues, whether they admit it or not, and speaking about them in a negative way could worsen them.”
Outside of the sorority, responses to the initiative varied, ranging from students hoping the campaign would become campus-wide to students rejecting the idea of the week itself.
“I think many girls are still unaware that they have problems with their body image, and a campaign like this one could help them identify how they could change their daily habits for the better,” said School of Hospitality Administration sophomore Audrey Aiudi. “The things we say definitely change the way we think about ourselves.”
“This kind of activism would work a lot better when done earlier, for example in middle schools. In college, it’s not going to change much,” added School of Education freshman Becca Golden.
SED freshman Shannon Van Gundy said she doubted the campaign would do much good if it were to be campus-wide.
“We have become so obsessed with being politically correct and not hurting people’s feelings,” she said. “People should be allowed to say whatever they want about themselves. And even when they do not use fat talk, they might still think it.”
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
