Beginning Monday, Oct. 19 and ending Friday, Oct. 22, The Women’s Center will be hosting a variety of events and programs to help bring awareness to the importance of body positivity.

Most importantly, the center wants to ensure that students are aware that the events are not just aimed toward women but at everyone.

Senior Jillian Deutsch, the student coordinator for “Love Your Body Week” and former Maneater staffer, asks students to take time to reflect on themselves and their body image.

“‘Love Your Body Week’ is a time where we take a week and make sure that students are really emphasizing and celebrating their bodies; taking ownership of what their bodies look like, what they’re capable of, and emphasizing body positivity and a good body image for everyone,” Deutsch said.

The week kicked off with “Body Positivity 101” with the Feminist Student Union and PHA speaker Erin Foley on Monday. On Tuesday, the lineup of events includes “Clothing Swap with ELO,” and “Ain’t I a Black Woman?”
On Wednesday, there will be a special session of “Stitch ‘n Bitch” featuring a clothing repair workshop in conjunction with the Craft Studio and Environmental Leadership offices. KCOU will also present “InsideOUT: Mr. Zou in the Dressing Room.”

On Thursday, there will be a “Love Your Body Fest” at Lowry Mall, “Mend the Gap: Mental Health and Body Positivity,” “Fluidity: Trans+Body Positivity” and “If These Walls Could Talk.”

On Friday, “Love Your Body Week” will officially come to an end with “#MizzouCrafternoons: Love Your Body Keychains” in the Craft Studio.

Jenna Pirok, a graduate student employee in the Department of Women and Gender Studies, believes the historical constructions of women’s bodies contributes to body negativity among women.

“These historical constructions of women’s bodies are really pervasive, and are internalized by young and old women,” Pirok said. “Women are often associated with more negative things like nature; women’s bodies are also seen as unruly or unpredictable.”

Deutsch believes body negativity specifically affects students due to the high levels of stress they are under during the school year.

“For students, we are always being bombarded by lots of different things,” Deutsch said. “I think it’s really hard for people to take a step back and make sure that they are taking care of themselves because body positivity is more than just looking in the mirror and liking what you see. It’s about loving yourself and making sure you’re providing for yourself and body what you need.”

One of the events during the week, “Clothing Swap with ELO,” hopes to bring attention to the fact that clothes are wasted as a result of women trying to keep up with trends.

“One of the things that we don’t think about when we think about the commercialization of beauty is the waste that it creates for the environment,” Deutsch said. “People are constantly getting rid of clothes that can easily be repaired or donated, so the Environmental Leadership Office is supporting us with the (clothing swap).”

In order to draw attention to the fact that body negativity is not solely restricted to women, one event is “Inside Out: Mr. Zou” on Oct. 21. The focus of the event is to discuss how body image ideals affect men and the concept of masculinity associated with them. The event will feature participants from Mr. Zou, an educational program for men aimed toward gender equality, and will aired be on KCOU 88.1 from 2-3 p.m.

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, “Ain’t I a Black Woman” will also run from 5-6 p.m. in the Women’s Center. The event is about the specific body image issues that black women face in society.

On Thursday, Oct. 22, the focus of “Mend the Gap” is to bring awareness to the mental health aspect of body positivity and will be from 2-3 p.m. in the Women’s Center.

“I hope that people take a step back and look at what their values are,” Deutsch said. “Take a step back and make sure that they loving and valuing themselves because that’s not emphasized enough in college and in life in general.”

For more information about Love Your Body week, visit the Women’s Center website at [womenscenter.missouri.edu.](http://womenscenter.missouri.edu/)