Carol Boyd says women don't have to copy the media's image of beauty in order to be attractive and healthy.
Boyd, a University nursing and women's studies professor, took this message to a crowd of about 50 female students last night at Stockwell residence hall.
"I want this forum to expand this group of women's knowledge about themselves as women relative to their health and well being," said Boyd, last year's winner of the Golden Apple award for undergraduate teaching.
Juliet Rogers, fellow for the Women's Health Program and supervisor of the three-day forum that concluded last night, said the program's strength lay in having many campus groups convene in a casual setting.
"We wanted to bring different groups around campus together on the issue of women's health," Rogers said. "We wanted to teach about the issue outside of a classroom to provide a more comfortable atmosphere."
During her keynote address, Boyd explained the strategies used in major cigarette and alcohol companies' advertisements in their efforts to glamorize products by objectifying women's bodies. Boyd said women feel compelled to worry about beauty and youth because of popular culture's narcissistic sentiments.
Boyd said a prevalence of this sort of imagery causes women to become overly self-conscious and view themselves externally, as if they were transported out of themselves to focus back on their bodies.
"We need to move beyond the popular images of what it means to be a woman and healthy," Boyd said. "We need to challenge the media's portrayal of young women as misty-headed, preoccupied with beauty, self-conscious and anxious."
A video featuring interviews with college women followed Boyd's presentation. After the video, the students divided into groups to discuss the issues raised in the video.
LSA senior Caryn Lubetsky, a member of the steering committee that planned the project, praised Boyd's speech and said she was proud to be part of the discussion.
"I'm grateful that she spoke," Lubetsky said.
LSA junior Melissa Campbell also enjoyed the presentation, but said she wished more students would attend women's health events.
"I thought it was great. I think her message is really important and it's encouraging that so many women are here," Campbell said. "But it's interesting that you start to recognize the same faces at these things."
JONATHAN SUMMER/Daily
Carol Boyd, a professor of nursing and women's studies, leads a discussion on women's health issues at Stockwell residence hall yesterday.