Dear Editor:
We are writing in response to an advertisement for a specific tanning company located on the back of this year's B Book. In this advertisement, two young women are scantily clad and seductively posed.
As members of the Eating Disorders and Body Image Outreach Team in the Counseling Center, we are well aware of the negative messages that images like this send to both women and men. In our culture, women have long been displayed as objects and have been made to believe that they must have a specific body type in order to be accepted.
College-age women are particularly vulnerable to these pressures of perfectionism. In fact, it is estimated that 8 percent of women on college campuses have an eating disorder, while another 50 to 60 percent engage in some type of disordered eating behaviors.
With statistics such as these, it is disturbing that Ball State University would allow such an exploitive advertisement to be printed on the back side of its telephone directory. For a university that is trying to enhance its prestige and integrity, allowing this advertisement to be printed is a step in the wrong direction.
In the future, we ask that Ball State carefully consider the content of the advertisements used in its publications in order to avoid compromising the physical and emotional well-being of the student body.
The Eating Disorder and Body Image Outreach Team
Ball State University Counseling Center
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
