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Body Acceptance: McDaniel Welcomes "The Body

SHARINA TAVERAS LOPEZ
Staff Reporter

The Body Project, a national program that

focuses on women's body acceptance, has been

changing women's lives for a decade on many.

college campuses across the country. No~ it 1S

coming to McDaniel College to raise awareness

about the individual and societal issues around

having the "ideal body." This is the first time

McDaniel College has implemented this type of

program on campus. .

According to Heidi Huber, counselor at the

McDaniel Wellness Center and head of The Body

Project at McDaniel, the American culture is .

constantly influenced by an ideal of beauty, having

blonde hair and blue eyes.

"We want women to challenge that ideal," says

Huber.

The Body Project practices "cognitive

dissonance," which means that participants will

challenge the "ideal body" by speaking about and

.bonding over their experiences with their own. '

bodies. In this club, the women will also be doing .

other fun activities like crafts and meditating. It is

important to note that this program was specifically feel related to each other. These students are

designed for women, but other programs for men, known as "peer educators." Their task is to help . groups will be small so that participants feel .
comfortable and everyone has to opportunlt.J ' to
athletes, and people who identify as LGBT are also start the conversation about these issues by sharing

currently being developed. . their experiences with the group and providing talk about their experiences., fe
skills to the participants inyolved.
"It is a body acceptance project that has been This,program wants to promote "a campus re

used for women, to improve women's feelings The program recently hosted a "peer educator of negativ"ity about people's bo."dies, says Bube.'r.

about their body and to prevent eating disorders," training and retreat," in which students spent Huber also explained what beauty means to her.

said Huber. "The goal of the Body Project is to a weekend learning to facilitate these group "Beauty is the marriage of feeling comfortable

have women talk about their feelings about this. experiences while creating bonds with each other. with your physical self, taking care of your body,

We are going to point out who benefits from it, Senior Emma Hankins is one of many students being healthy, and loving yoursel£"

like fashion industries, because they keep people training to become a peer educator. She became In addition to the group sessions, the Body

unsatisfied with their bodies." involved with the program last February and last Project will also be in charge of hosting eventS d

Huber also wants women to learn how to weekend she finished the peer instructor's training open to the public to let the word out about bo Y
to finally launch the program this year.
balance their life, which means that they can be 1ssues.. . 1,

healthy without becoming obsessive. Huber states "Heidi and I attended the two day training at Th e Body Project will be ready .soon, sa chec~

that putting too much energy into how your body Shepard Pratt's center for eating disorders. After the campus announcement for news. ' .
.If you have any other questions about this
looks can get in the way of your own individuality. two long days, [I was] officially a peer educator for

According to Huber, this program was first the program," stated Hankins. _ program, contact Heidi Huber at hhuber@
mcdaniel.edu.
run by licensed counselors, but the the founders Hankins and many other students at McDaniel

then decided that it could be better to have other College will be guiding the groups this year. These

students run the program so that everyone could