Kefir Kommunity

During the “Models and Mortals" episode of Sex and the City, Season One, our favorite foursome debates the physical merits of models:

CHARLOTTE: "You know, no matter how good I feel about myself, if I see Christy Turlington, I just wanna give up. "


MIRANDA: "I just wanna force feed her lard, but that’s the difference between you and me."



CARRIE: "What are you talking about? Look at you two, you're beautiful."



CHARLOTTE: "Ooooh I hate my thighs."



MIRANDA: "Oh, come on."



CHARLOTTE: "I can't even open a magazine without thinking 'Thighs, thighs, thighs.'" 



MIRANDA: "Well I'll take your thighs and raise you a chin."



CARRIE: "I'll take you a chin and raise you a … (points at nose)."

(All look at Samantha expectantly) 


SAMANTHA: "What?" 



CARRIE: "Come on."



SAMANTHA: "I happen to love the way I look."


MIRANDA: "You should. You paid enough for it." (Miranda, Carrie and Charlotte all laugh) 



Sound familiar? Ladies, how many times have you sat around with girlfriends only to start your sentences with the words, “I hate my…” or “My [blank] is so gross.” Gentlemen, how often do you overhear your girlfriends or sisters talking like this?

Fat Talk Free Week is aiming to change that. Starting yesterday, October 18, thousands of students on at least 35 campuses nationwide will have the chance to participate in Fat Talk Free Week, a campaign to eliminate “My stomach is disgusting” and “I’m only eating salad for the next month to tone up for Spring Break” and “She should not be wearing those skinny jeans” type of language.

"Body image right now is down the flusher for so many young people," Lynn Grefe, president of the National Eating Disorders Association, told TIME magazine. With the motto, "Friends don't let friends 'fat talk'," students on participating campuses will learn how the best way to respond when a sorority sister asks if her bra fat is sticking out, and how to flip the fat talk script, turning “I need to go to the gym,” to “I want to go to the gym.”
 

Delta Delta Delta sorority has been integral in promoting Fat Talk Free Week (FTFW), offers the FTFW body image curriculum to its 138 chapters, plus any sorority or campus women's group that expresses interest. They have joined forces with Dove Model for Real Beauty (and Tri-Delt member) Stacy Nadeau, who was one of the six women who made headlines in 2005 when they appeared on a Time Square billboard in nothing but white undies. Nadeau is this year’s FTFW spokesperson.

The results have been creative and impressive. One Rutgers University sorority trashed its scales as a result of FTFW. A sassy group of San Antonio women staged a FTFW flash mob. Tri Delt alumnae recently camped out outside the Today Show to spread the Fat Talk Free message.

You needn’t be a college student to celebrate FTFW. Try this normally next-to-impossible feat: The next time someone gives you a compliment, resist the urge to immediately object ("Oh my God, are you kidding me? I haven’t worked out in two weeks and have been eating like a cow!”) Take a deep breath and simply reply, “Thank you." It’s harder than you might think and that needs to change.

If you’re in a sorority, check out this list of ideas for promoting FTFW in your chapter.

Could you stop using 'fat talk' for one week?