Photo by:

Delta Delta Delta (Tri Delta) held the fourth annual “Fat Talk Free Week” on campus last week as part of a nationwide campaign that encourages girls to get away from the “thin” ideal and to embrace the bodies they were given.

“Fat Talk,” as the campaign calls it, is any comments encouraging thinness propagated to young people by mass media and society. The goal is to eliminate comments such as “Do these jeans make me look fat?” or “I feel fat,” and to bring young women to love their own body image.

“‘Fat Talk’ is any conversation that reinforces the thin ideal or makes a women feel dissatisfied with her body,” said TriDelta president Tess Safty. “Comments such as ‘Do I look fat in this?’ or ‘She’s too fat to be wearing that’ are all considered fat talk. Even comments that may seem positive in many aspects such as ‘Have you lost weight? You look amazing’ is still considered fat talk because it reinforces the thin ideal we are trying to get away from.”

While the purpose of this campaign is to educate young people on positive body image, DU will also be using the opportunity to simultaneously help the less fortunate. Tri Delta was selected this year as one of five chapters in the nation to participate in the Cotton Delta Denim Drive, which provides students with the opportunity to donate their old jeans to Habitat for Humanity. It collected an estimated 400 pairs of jeans, according to Tri Delta vice president of finance Ellen Hoenig.

Getting rid of these old jeans helps eliminate negative body image while giving students a chance to help their communities. The clothes will be used for insulation in housing projects, a cause that has raised 500,000 pairs of denim since the project began in 2008.

Throughout the week, there will be various stations available  where students can drop off jeans.

“Fat Talk Free Week” is part of a larger campaign by “Reflections,” a nationwide campaign to facilitate more positive body image and to end eating disorders. Other colleges have embraced the movement not only through the denim drive, but also through techniques such as removing scales from girl’s bathrooms for a week.

“The ultimate goal of Reflections is to end the conversation around the thin ideal while educating Tri Delta members, college campuses, communities as well as other institutions about body and eating disorders,” said Safty.             

Overall, Safty said, a successful campaign would help to change the attitudes of girls who are used to seeing nothing but bodily flaws when they look into a mirror.

Besides being able to get rid of old jeans, students will be given the opportunity to take the “no fat talk pledge” and begin their change to a more positive attitude about their bodies.

“We wish to accomplish many things,” said Safty. “But changing the dialogue, directing attention away from the thin ideal and body image concerns whenever possible, and encouraging our peers to take control over their bodies and ways of thinking would be a wonderful accomplishment.”