Breaking down body image ideals
CW: This article mentions disordered eating.
In normal times, university students are subject to extreme pressure when it comes to meeting cultural and societal body image ideals. In the midst of a pandemic, where we’re living almost entirely virtually and spending more time on social media, it is even more challenging for young adults to maintain a healthy perspective. They are inundated with ideals of “better”, “thinner” and “more beautiful” everywhere they look.
As this week (Feb. 1-7) marks Eating Disorder Awareness Week (external link) in Canada, where, according to the National Initiative for Eating Disorders (external link) , about one million Canadians have a diagnosis of an eating disorder, Ryerson’s Department of Athletics & Recreation offers programming to support students looking to handle these societal pressures and their potentially harmful consequences.
The Body Project RU is a four-week body positivity program dedicated to promoting body positivity and combatting appearance ideals, brought to Ryerson as an in-person service in 2015 by Colleen Conroy Amato, an eating disorder advocate and the counsellor in the Department of Athletics & Recreation.
The program is part of the multi-national Body Project Collaborative (external link) , a dissonance-based body acceptance program that helps young women resist societal and cultural pressures to conform to unrealistic female body ideals. The Body Project Collaborative has been able to prevent approximately nine eating disorders for every 100 young women who complete the program.
Amato says Ryerson was the first university to bring this early-intervention program to Canada. With the onset of COVID-19, Ryerson launched a virtual version last year as a collaborative effort between Ryerson Athletics and Recreation, Student Wellbeing, Housing and Residence Life and SHARPP (Student Health Assistance and Resistance Peer Program).
The Body Project is open to anyone of any gender who has been affected by the feminine ideals of beauty. Participants can sign up for free workshops on a monthly basis and with the February sessions already full, it is clear that this is a resource students want and need.
In a written testimonial, one participant said they joined as a step toward dealing with their own issues with disordered eating and body dysmorphia, and as a way to learn more about body acceptance.
“Although I knew I struggled with body image issues, the discussions helped me realize that many of the behaviours I was still participating in were contributing to a negative body image,” said the participant. “[The Body Project RU] also helped me understand the impact that my attitudes towards my body had on others.”
In another student testimonial, a second participant said they wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the virtual Body Project RU to other Ryerson students.
“I think it needs to be talked about more between everyone. I feel like people assume a lot of things about the topic of body image so by talking about it more and finding things that people relate to is really nice and gives a different perspective.”
Students can register for one of four sessions of the Body Project RU in March (google form) here (external link) . The schedule for March sessions is listed below:
● Tuesdays at 10:00-11:00 a.m. from March 2 to March 23
● Wednesdays at 3:00-4:00 p.m. from March 3 to March 24
● Thursdays at 10:00-11:00 a.m. from March 4 to March 25
For support, contact the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (external link) .