Seminar on body image will feature URI psychologists

By: Erica Johnson
Posted In: News

Two psychologists from the University of Rhode Island will be featured speakers at a seminar on body image at Salve this Thursday, April 15.

The effect of the media on self-esteem and body perceptions in young adults, particularly young women, has been a hot topic throughout the 1990s and into today. This particular campus seminar is entitled “Society’s Miserable Mirror: Transforming Body Image in a Poisonous Culture” and will address a number of the struggles college students face when it comes to their body and measuring up to society’s standards.

Brian Shanely, assistant director of the athletic department, said “the goal of the seminar is to enlighten our students and staff concerning the personal and cultural issues related to an individual’s perception of their body image and, unfortunately in many cases, the distortion of that image.”

Junior Jennifer Myer said she was approached by Shanely while doing work-study at Rodgers Recreation and asked if she thought that weight and image were a problem for girls at Salve. She told him she thought it was and had recently completed a forty page paper on the effects of the media on women’s perception of an “ideal body.”

“I know that the girls are very into how they look,” said Myer. “People here at Salve are always at the gym or running on the streets to get in shape, but mostly to get the body they want. There are also many “pretty boys” here that are all about their looks.”

For her paper, Myer conducted a small survey asking if the media’s portrayal of the “ideal body” had an impact on how the participant felt about his/her own body.

“All of my respondents said yes,” said Myer. “I found that 60 percent of both males and females compare themselves with models. And 75 percent of the respondents agreed that the media’s image of women might be to blame for eating disorders.”

Myer finds the media to blame because of their portrayal of women as sex objects. “They set unrealistic standards. This is an issue that can turn into real problems. Some people count calories, and other people become anorexic or bulimic. The standard of thinness and beauty is sometimes too much for an average person.”

Body image and standards are also at play in sports teams. Myer said, “Coaches are now getting involved with their players weight. The football players are not big enough and the girls track team need to lose a few too. The added pressure from these coaches can cause even more harm to the person. This pressure might even be the breaking point for when people start eating disorders or turn to pills for help.”

The seminar is bringing Dr. Bridgett Murphy and Dr. John Sullivan, who specialize in sports psychology, from URI to the Salve campus. Some of the topics up for discussion are eating disorders, excessive exercise routines, nutrition, body dismorphic disease, self-esteem and any other matters related to body image. The seminar will also be working with campus counselors in arranging one-on-one sessions for those attendees that are struggling with an eating disorder, self-esteem, or preoccupation with image.

The seminar begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Rodgers Recreation Conference Room on Thursday, April 15. The event is free and sponsored by the athletic department and Salve’s chapter of Psi Chi, a national honor society for psychology.