The Women’s Resource Center hosted its annual Breast Party last night as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month to promote a healthy body image among women.
“”The significance tonight was a ‘Love Your Body’ event. We wanted our participants to walk out with a new confidence, a new level of self esteem really appreciating what they have,”” said Malia Uhatafe, co-director of the Women’s Resource Center.
The guests enjoyed pizza and sodas before clothes swapping, the first event of the evening. People brought their clothes that no longer fit and were encouraged to swap them in and find new clothes for themselves, without the pressures of shopping.
“”The purpose of the clothes swap was to encourage our participants to bring clothes that no longer fit them and to exchange them for clothes that do fit them,”” Uhatafe said. “”This is to promote breaking against society and the stereotype of how a woman’s body should be.””
Clothing was organized on tables according to pants, skirts and tops. Students crowded around the tables and advised each other on what was a good selection for them. This activity emphasized that size doesn’t matter and promoted a healthy body image.
“”I think that clothing swapping is a good example of something that is feminist inherently,”” said Allison Dumka, a co-coordinator and development intern. “”It’s a bonding experience because we all like to have new clothes, and it’s nice when we can recycle things.””
After the clothing swap was complete, students changed into their new attire and participated in a fashion parade around the Union Gallery to show off their new finds.
The next activity of the night was breast molding. Tables were set up around the room with plastic sheets on the ground. WRC adviser Carly Thomsen gave a demonstration on how to make a breast mold.
The women started by rubbing Vaseline on their breasts. The next step was to cover any nipple rings in plastic wrap. Then Rigid Wrap was cut into thin, wet strips and laid over the body and left to dry. The women helped each other place the Rigid Wrap on their breasts.
“”There are a lot of completely unrealistic stereotypes about women’s bodies,”” Thomsen said. “”This is one way that we’re trying to fight back against a lot of the stereotypes that women face each day. This is our form of active resistance to a culture that promotes negative ideas about women.””
The WRC will also host a breast decorating event on Oct. 30 when the participants can return to decorate the mold they made at the Breast Party.
“”We wanted them to break out of the norms and protest against society,”” Uhatafe said. “”Society tells women they should have a supermodel body, but in reality, we all come in different shapes and sizes.””
