What does it mean to be beautiful? The DU FAWKES interest group, or Fierce Asian Women Keeping Each Other Strong, challenged the societal definition of beauty last week with their event, True Beauty Week, which celebrated the beauty of every individual.
Lena Chhay, a second-year from Broomfield majoring in political science and international studies, explained True Beauty Week was a chance to empower women.
“It’s one thing to tell people that they are beautiful, but it’s another to look at all of the different factors to why society in general has morphed the meaning of beauty to be something in a magazine,” said Chhay. “We, as leaders on campus, need to bring back the meaning of ‘beauty’ to be something more than the images in the media.”
FAWKES facilitated five different events throughout the week. Monday initiated a “Born This Way” workshop and speaker series on self-image and the beauty industry led by Dr. Ginni Ishimatsu, Director of Asian Studies and Associate Dean for AHSS Undergraduate Studies, and Dr. Lindsey Feitz, Postdoctoral Lecturer in Gender and Women’s Studies.
According to Chhay, the event “was like a gigantic facilitated discussion, where we hit on topics like self-image and self-confidence, the beauty industry and its impact on gender, the globalization of the beauty industry, and race and gender in the media.”
FAWKES also created an “I am beautiful because…” photo collage on the Driscoll Bridge on Tuesday and screened Disney’s “Mulan” on Wednesday, providing wontons and milk tea made by FAWKES members in exchange for donations of all sizes. Thursday, they held a “Stars of Encouragement” event where students wrote encouraging notes to anyone on DU’s campus.
“Oftentimes we ourselves forget to recognize that it’s important to see ourselves as valuable assets. We are worth far more than the price the media puts on us,” said Susanna Yeajin Park, a sophomore international studies major from Thornton and one of 13 women involved with FAWKES.
While all events were free, donations were accepted throughout the week. Chhay pledged to cut one inch of her hair for every $100 raised in order to stand up to the societal standard of beauty that “long hair is sexy hair,” according to Chhay. Chhay pledged to shave her head if FAWKES was able to raise $3,000 by last Friday.
“People would literally come up to me and tell me I’d look ugly with short hair. I really think that short hair can be sexy,” said Chhay, who cut 12 inches of her hair on Friday, double the amount pledged, donating it to non-profit organization Locks of Love.
FAWKES raised about $620 to send them to a conference next year and they raised $30 for the Stars of Encouragement project, which went to the family of DU student Tyler Starr, who passed away early this quarter and was a close friend of many FAWKES members.
“We had people writing stars to his family in their time of grief. Being a beautiful person sometimes isn’t recognized as much as it should be. We really need to take time each week to let our loved ones and close friends know that they are special, beautiful and close to our hearts,” said Chhay.
Chhay hopes DU can take away something from FAWKES’ events.
“DU needs to realize that society isn’t concrete. We can change the ‘standards’ of beauty, of something that makes you uncomfortable about the world, but we just have to give a damn about it,” said Chhay.
True Beauty week was one of many events that DU FAWKES plans to hold in their effort to bring an Asian-interest sorority to DU as soon as possible, which, according to their Facebook page, would foster sisterhood, a closer DU community and philanthropic support to local causes,” a process that was started last March by members such as Chhay.
In order to establish a colony of their sorority of choice, members of FAWKES members must attend the national conference next year and propose that the organization grant them a bid.
Though it is unclear how long this process might take, according to Chhay, events such as True Beauty Week help FAWKES demonstrate a commitment to community involvement and empowerment of women, two pillars of the organization they are trying to bring to DU.
