For anyone who’s ever asked, “Do these pants make me look fat?” or openly regretted a snack that might go straight to their thighs, their questions and comments are not allowed at the second annual “Fat Talk Free Week.”
The week is meant to eliminate comments that promote an unhealthy thin ideal, which is the unhealthy, unrealistic standard of feminine beauty promoted within society, said University Clinical Psychology Graduate student Rebecca Greif.
“Essentially this week is an outgrowth based on the [Reflections Body Image Project] program. … [It] is the first sustainable evidence disorder prevention program in the country to be implemented in sororities,” Greif said.
The program is sponsored by the Academy of Eating Disorders, the Delta Delta Delta fraternity and The Center for Living, Learning and Leading and was originally started by Carolyn Becker in Texas.
Greif said she initiated the event at the University with the guidance of Becker and Professor G. Terence Wilson.
“We have implemented the program with two [University] sororities, [Delta Gamma and Alpha Chi Omega], and hope to implement it with more sororities this spring,” she said. “Ultimately, I would love to try and implement it through the [University first-year residence halls].”
Approximately 120 students from the two University sororities have gone through the program, and all incoming new members will do the same, Greif said. The program consists of two, 2-hour long sessions in which participants challenge the “thin ideal.”
“The program consists of several activities, such as the homework assignment we give them between sessions one and two, where they look in the mirror and write down things they like about their bodies,” Greif said. “Women typically focus on the things they don’t like about [their] bodies, and rarely focus on the things they do like.”
She said her role is to train peer leaders within the sororities, then allow the girls to run the programs themselves.
A significant body of empirical research has demonstrated this program reduces known eating disorder risk factors, Greif said.
At the University, Greif and her colleagues are aiming to augment this body of research by asking all program participants to fill out research questionnaires before the first session of the program, after the second session, and then five, 12 and 17 months after completion of the program.
This will represent the most longitudinal study of the program to date, she said.
“Before, no programs showed evidence that they prevent eating disorders,” Greif said. “This program does.”
Delta Gamma Vice President of Programming Tiffany Chang said her personal experiences with victims of eating disorders caused her to value the program greatly.
“I have and still know people who have eating disorders,” said Chang, an Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy fifth-year student. “This program has taught me how to better confront my friends about these issues and has allowed me to be more comfortable in addressing body image concerns.”
She said the program has helped her to recognize the downfalls of “fat talk” and change the conversation to a more positive tone when it arises.
Greif defines “fat talk” as conversational traps that create a toxic environment. Such talk can range from the obvious, “I feel fat, my butt’s too big,” to the insidious, “You look great, have you lost weight?”
Throughout “Fat Talk Free Week,” the participating sororities will engage in exercises such as charging a fine for fat talk and donating the proceeds to charity, and keeping a garbage can in the house into which they would toss scraps of paper with frequently used fat talk expressions on them, Greif said.
School of Arts and Sciences sophomore Courtney Lanza said she went through the program upon pledging Delta Gamma last year, and is now training to become a peer leader.
“I just got a really positive message from it; it was really real to me, not scripted like other programs or literature,” Lanza said. “When you learn about eating disorders in high school, they say, ‘Oh, this person has an eating disorder, tell them you love them and it will go away.’”
Sorority fights to improve self-image in week-long program
Published: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
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