As a child, I was always told that I was overweight, fat, chunky, or too big for my age. The constant pressure of my family telling me I needed to go for a walk and my physician saying “We need to change your diet and include some more physical activity in your life”. I am sure this is not uncommon because societal pressures influence people’s mind every day. This affected my life and happiness for so much of my life but this does not have to happen to other people too.  

Looking through clubs and organizations at Davidson, I was shocked that there wasn’t one regarding body positivity as much as it is being discussed and presented in our society today. Yes, there is Changing Minds which offers information and support regarding mental disorders on campus which can include eating disorders, however, this campus needs something more distinctive to help gain awareness for body positivity. Something to make people feel more confident in their own skin as they should be. 

With this in mind, I propose to create a program at Davidson that focuses on providing information and support to anyone who feels uncomfortable in their own body and skin. This program would be called Love Yourself and its goal is to create a safe space for people to discuss and support other people who feel the same way. In addition to this goal, Love Yourself would partner with Changing Minds to add additional support and awareness. 

The program, Love Yourself, is open to absolutely everyone with the intentions of finding confidence in their image as well as assisting others who have similar thoughts and ideas. With meetings once a week, the program will create an environment that stimulates personal growth and activism. Love Yourself will consist of workshops which can include reading pieces like Deb Burgard’s “What is Health at Every Size” as we discussed in our course this semester as well as experimenting with projects such as creating body positivity posters around campus to help gain awareness for it. Our mental capacity is so important, especially during these times in college, so it is vital that students have a space where they can unleash their frustrations or concerns with themselves as well as participate in fun activities and learnings regarding these issues.

Overall, the intentions of this program are to allow anyone to come and discuss their feelings about themselves with complete confidence that they are not alone as well as engaging in the progressive movement in body positivity. People will have a safe space and large support group that blocks out the judgements of society which hopefully grows the community of support for this topic. The discourse in this program will be vital to help change the harmful impacts of society on people all around campus and eventually the world.