Hi everyone – Steph & Tori, NEDA Communications interns here! It’s National Bullying Prevention Month and today, we’d like to discuss bullying and weight-shaming in schools – a huge epidemic in today’s modern society. Bullying about weight and size stirs up negative emotions and can lead students to form a negative body image. Unfortunately, negative body image often plays a major role in triggering disordered eating and full-fledged eating disorders among pre-adolescent and adolescent children. 

Chase Bannister is the founder, senior vice president and chief strategy & clinical integrity officer for Veritas Collaborative, a specialty hospital system for the treatment of eating disorders in a gender-diverse and inclusive environment. He is credentialed as a certified eating disorder specialist by the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals and is a licensed clinical social worker.

This week was bustling with important mental health news. Monday, October 10th, was World Mental Health Day with the global community getting the word out about resources available for those struggling with mental health issues and sharing ways to combat stigma. Also, for those of us taking midterms, it’s a pivotal time for self-care when we feel like we don’t have time for it. 

Check out the headlines we dished out below! 

I have a love-hate relationship with “women’s interest” magazines. Part of me loves spending a lazy afternoon flipping through the pages, giving my mind a brief respite from the grind of academia with their stories of fashion, relationships and embarrassing moments. It is escapism; it is self-care. And yet, another part of me wonders, how much of this is real? There are so few pages that deviate from what feel like stock features. Most significantly, I wonder about the women whose pictures fill the pages.

The word “diet” isn’t necessarily synonymous with body positivity—quite the opposite, actually. The body-positive movement is rooted in ideals such as self-love and appreciation; it’s a backlash against a diet culture that defines beautiful as slim and encourages us to continually strive for “better” bodies. In that sense, it would be oxymoronic to champion a body-positive attitude while adhering to a prescribed way of eating, right?

I love going to the art museum and perusing the galleries full of endless masterpieces. There are paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, installations, photography...the wonders are endless. Speaking of which, bodies are like that too, aren’t they? It’s hard for most of us (especially those who have struggled with an ED) to think about, but the truth is that we are each a wonderful work of art. Something that helped me realize this was a figure drawing class I took back in college.

"Dear KJ" is an advice column by Dr. Kjerstin "KJ" Gruys, sociologist, author and body image activist. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology with a focus on the politics of appearance and is the author of Mirror Mirror Off the Wall: How I Learned to Love My Body By Not Looking at It for a Year (Avery Press, 2012).

Bailey Webber is a student journalist who takes a stand against bullying and body shaming brought on by the government in her documentary, The Student Body. The film showcases real stories of children of all ages whose bodies fall out of the range of what’s deemed “acceptable” by the government, an issue that is occurring in several states across the nation. Webber takes a stand, showing lawmakers there is no such thing as a “right” or “wrong” body.

If you’ve ever tried to practice self-care, then you’ve probably come across the advice to “listen to your body.” What exactly does that even mean, though? Is it when my fiancé and I listen to each other’s tummies and laugh at the noises of gas bubbles and digestive enzymes? Maybe it’s obeying the voice in my head that says, “Screw work and go to sleep instead; you’re tired.” 

From suicide prevention measures to celebrities calling out their body-shamers, this week was full of important stories.