One member of the Panhellenic Council wants to change the expectations of beauty on campus, and she started a week to do just that.
Coordinator Lesley Nickels said the week, which starts Nov. 5, is open for everyone to participate in.
“Beauty Awareness Week is really about starting a discussion on campus that we don’t really have. It's not only for Greeks, and not just women either, but for everybody on campus,” Nickels said. “I think it's really important that we start a conversation about how we can change expectations of beauty on a college campus and in the community.”
Nickels said beauty awareness is something special to her, and is something people don't address enough.
“I have never been the standard of beauty in anyone’s eyes, I think, and when I joined a sorority there were a lot of stereotypes about what being beautiful means," she said. "I have certainly felt those pressures. But it's not just in sororities: it's women everywhere, it's women in organizations, on campus. There’s a strong perception on how we should look, how we should act, so this is a very personal passion of mine."
Beauty Awareness Week will run from Nov. 5 to Nov. 10, with events planned everyday.
Pledge Cards
On Nov. 5 at 5:30 p.m., everyone is welcome to take a pledge to start the progression of loving and accepting yourself and others, in Whitinger Business Building, room 144. Along with the pledge cards, makeup wipes will be available to challenge everyone to go the week without makeup.
Buttons
Members and participants of the event will be at the scramble light with more pledge cards and wipes, along with buttons featuring the hashtag #beYOUtiful from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 6. Nickels said she hopes people will take the buttons and explain to their friends what the button represents to start spreading the conversation.
Outreach Workshop
The group will be hosting a community outreach workshop from 10 a.m. to noon on Nov. 7 at the Boys and Girls Club. The workshop will cover confidence-building, accepting compliments, finding positive role models and how media makes an impact on what beauty is. The group has reached out to churches, organizations and Girl Scout troops to get the community involved as well.
Photo Shoot
From 5 to 8 p.m. on Nov. 8, Beauty Awareness will be visiting Greek Life chapters to host a video shoot similar to Dove's “I love myself” campaign commercials, Nickels said.
Operation Beauty Pass Along
Nov. 9 starts Operation Beauty Pass Along. Members of the event will be pinning clothes pins with positive, non-materialistic messages and their hashtag on them to strangers throughout the day. The hope is people will search the hashtags to find what the event is about, and pass the pins on to other strangers as another means of starting the conversation, Nickels said.
Diversity Panel and Campus Speak Representative
For the last day of Beauty Awareness Week, Nov. 10, there will be a panel with representatives from multicultural organizations on campus: Feminists for Action, women and gender studies and the YWCA, a women's shelter in Muncie. They will be discussing how beauty varies by culture, background, perspective and experience. The panel will be at 3:30 p.m. in the Pineshelf Room in the L.A. Pittenger Student Center and will be open to audience questions.
At 7 p.m. in Pruis Hall on Nov. 10, Campus Speak Representative Amber Krzys will be giving a keynote presentation called “From Body Hater to Body Celebrater,” focusing on how to further love and accept yourself.
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