Body Image and Fatphobia During Isolation
with St. Thomas alum Genevieve Gates
Date & Time:
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM 7:00 PM on Tuesday, May 5th and Tuesday, May 12th, 2020
Location:
zoom
LDCW Student Worker Bizzy Stephenson worked with St. Thomas alum Genevieve Gates to set up a discussion series addressing the effects isolation can have on body image. Especially poignant during the COVID-19 pandemic, Genevieve faciliated much-needed conversations and shared helpful resources. Her presentations can be found below: they include books to read, podcasts to listen to, fat-positive accounts to follow on social media, quotes to think about and questions to ask. We invite you to take some time to look through them.
Body Image and Fatphobia During Isolation_Genevieve Gates
Genevieve Gates_At Home in Our Bodies
Program participants also shared the following remedies for counteracting negative thoughts:
- I write down 10 things I like about myself
- I remind myself that how I feel right now is not the truth and it's not how I will feel forever
- I look at old photos where I remember hating my body and think about how good I looked then and how good I look now
- I take selfies when I feel good to look at later when I am feeling low
- When I have a fat-phobic or negative thought, I remind myself that it's not my thought. I wouldn't think about myself like that. Someone else created that thought and put it in my head - and is making money off of it.
- You don't have to follow people on social media who make you feel bad about your body
- I only exercise when I want to and if I begin to have negative thoughts, I stop
- I only buy food that I like and I know I will eat. I eat when I am hungry.
- I remind myself that I don't have to be body positive - I can be body neutral, accept my body, and love myself for other aspects of who I am.