Cultivating women’s self-image through beauty and the body

Yomi Abiola

The Catherine S. Eberly Center for Women is taking a stand to promote the cultivation of self-image.
The Eberly Center will be hosting a lecture as a way to educate people about this topic. The lecture will be held on Thursday, Oct. 30, from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Doermann Theatre in University Hall.
The Eberly Center’s Film and Lecture Series specifically focuses on beauty and body image.
“We thought body image was a really important issue to be talking about…we thought it was a really important topic for women and girls today,” said Emily Kizer, community outreach manager for the Eberly Center.
Kizer said that all students are welcome to come to the event; however, there are specific groups that have been invited like the Girl Scouts, Young Women of Excellence and Toledo Public Schools.
“We’re trying to really get the message out to everybody,” Kizer said.
The speaker of the lecture, Yomi Abiola, is a model, activist and journalist.
According to Kizer, her message will incorporate everything that involves creating the whole person about body image as well as diversity and equality.
“We loved what Yomi had to say, we loved all the things that she had been affiliated with in the fashion industry, and I think it’s just a really interesting message to hear from somebody that is such an integral part of what shapes our body image,” Kizer said.
She is also the founder of the organization “Stand Up For Fashion” (STUFF), which is dedicated to finding solutions to social issues within the fashion industry.
Abiola was the first African-American to represent Maybelline Cosmetics and it led to her modelling success, according to her organization’s website.
“She uses her perspective to fuel her mission of transforming the way beauty is perceived internationally,” the website said.
The Eberly Center is not the only organization trying to change the way beauty is perceived; other UT faculty are taking a stand as well.
“The field of communication and the media are very much an important part of looking at how women are represented around the world and in the U.S. — it is vitally important we study these representations to see if they are limiting younger girls’ visions of themselves,” said Jackie Layng, a University of Toledo communication professor, in an e-mail interview.
Layng has also published an article titled “The animated woman: the powerless beauty of Disney heroines from Snow White to Jasmine.”
“The article studied how these films have changed women’s body images from that of being childlike to a much more sexualized version,” Layng said.
Layng said this relates to the lecture and why body image needs to be promoted in a positive way.
Although the lecture is specific to women, men are invited to come as well.
Kizer said that it is very important to make sure that this message gets out to everyone.
There are many programs on campus that provide services for women, especially the Eberly Center.
“I can speak to what we’re doing at the Eberly Center, we have a lot of personal, professional development programming for women…everything that we do is around cultivating the whole person,” Kizer said.