What is the Body Project?

"The obsession with thinness is most deeply about cutting girls and women down to size." Jean Kilbourne (1993:137).

As children we are encouraged to idealize Barbie dolls and G.I. Joes, figures with body proportions that are virtually impossible to attain. As adults, women are taught to aspire to the physiques of super-models, and men to the sculpted bodies of professional athletes, again ideals that few of us could ever achieve. Trying to live up to these unrealistic body ideals can take a significant toll on us, taxing our self-esteem, our time and energy, and our wallets in pursuit of bodily perfection.

The Body Project was developed by the Women’s Studies Program of Bradley University in cooperation with the University’s Center for Wellness. We invite you to use this site

To challenge the way you think about current standards of beauty and fitness;
To locate books and videos, facilities and programs, activities, and courses to help you on your way to body acceptance;
To expand your understanding of the links between current body ideals and the

political, economic and cultural force that shape them;
To get information and assistance with balanced nutrition and eating disorders;
To have your say on issues of body image and standards of beauty and fitness;
And to start down the path to a positive body image.

"A cultural fixation on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty but an obsession about female obedience." Naomi Wolf (1990: 187)

The Body Project is for women and men of all ages, in the Bradley community and beyond. Join us in increasing awareness and acceptance of the human body in all its shapes and sizes.

The Body Project recently received the 2009 Helen Bartlett Award for Excellence in Service to Students. Pictured above are BU President Joanne Glasser (left) with Melissa Sage-Bollenbach (center) and Jackie Hogan (right) at the award presentation.

BU "Love Your Body" Poster Contest Winners Announced!!

(Click Here to see the Winning Entries)