Members of the National Organization for Women at UCF donned towels - and nothing else - bearing slogans such as "This is what Barbie should look like," to celebrate Love Your Body Day outside the Student Union on Thursday.
NOW created Love Your Body Day 10 years ago to promote healthy body images and improve self-esteem among women who feel underrepresented by advertising and the media.
According to a study by the Screen Actors Guild, the average woman in the media is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 117 pounds, but the average American woman is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds.
NOW at UCF President Vanessa Bernstein urged women to demonstrate their displeasure with advertising and media images by using their wallets.
"If you think that [a corporation's] advertising is objectifying, that it encourages violence against women or that it's misogynistic, don't buy their products," Bernstein said. "Write them a letter or call them and say, 'I just wanted to let you know that I'm not buying your products,' and give them the reasons why.
"I want people to be constantly aware that you have power as a consumer."
In addition to wearing towels, NOW at UCF members constructed posters that featured facts from studies done on negative body images and eating disorders in women.
One poster, which cited information from nonprofit organization Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention, stated that 80 percent of American women are dissatisfied with their appearances. Another study from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that 90 percent of people with eating disorders are women.
NOW at UCF Vice President Annie Warshaw said she participated in Love Your Body Day to help educate others on how women are affected by eating disorders.
"If it's not anorexia or bulimia, many women are still on diets or thinking about what they ate today," Warshaw said. "Every day, we're bombarded with what we should be and not accepting who we are. Today is just about recognizing that there is no reason to feel poor about yourself."
NOW at UCF Secretary Cristina Calandruccio said she is concerned about the effects of media images on elementary and middle school girls.
"Girls who are in middle school already on diets should be focused on things like their education, making friends, having a good time," Calandruccio said. "We need to reach out to younger girls. Maybe by the time they get to high school, they will have a more positive image of themselves and their bodies."
Bernstein said that men don't escape the effects of advertising in their everyday lives either. She said that many advertisements involving men are geared toward selling a product that makes them more attractive to women.
"I think that men in our society have a lot more to offer us," Bernstein said. "We are devaluing them and demeaning them to tell them that all they should strive for is to sleep with women."
Calandruccio said that the day's focus was not solely about women. She said that men in advertising images are also altered to achieve a certain look, which can affect male body image.
NOW at UCF members distributed pamphlets on sexual and mental health, which offered information on signs and symptoms of depression and advice on safe sex and forming healthy relationships.
"Part of loving your body is protecting it and keeping it safe and healthy," Bernstein said.
Molecular and microbiology major Lamercie St. Hilaire, who participated in the event by wearing a towel that read "I love my body," agreed that staying healthy is a crucial part of loving your body.
"I think there are enough resources out there about staying healthy, but we just don't know about them," St. Hilaire said. "When you open up Cosmo, there might be one or two pages devoted to health, but six or seven on '1,000 ways to please your partner.' If you love your body, you want to take care of it."
The event attracted many passers-by, including graphic arts major Lauren Feuerman. Feuerman said she loved the idea of wearing towels to show that women come in all different sizes.
"At one point, I let media images affect me negatively," Feuerman said. "I just got so angry about it. It's not a good feeling, so I stopped. I looked at what I thought was wrong with my body, and then I just accepted what I have."
Bernstein said that she hoped that Love Your Body Day would help to change people's conceptions about feminists and how they look.
"People have this conception that in order to be feminist, they can't be feminine," Bernstein said. "Take a look around. That's not true. We're normal women. We're just trying to reach out to normal men and women to say, 'Isn't it time that media and the society and corporations accepted us just the way we are?' "
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