Building Body Positivity & Acceptance at Boise State

James Sherpa: Coming up on BroncoTales. 

Laci Whipple: So, my hot take, I think, is that body positivity is like such a great place to be, such a great place to like direct people, but it’s still about bodies. And I’m a big proponent of like, we’re so much more than what our bodies look like. It’s so much more than our bodies.

Hi, I’m Laci Whipple, I am the body image intern at BroncoFit. I’m studying counseling. I’m in the master’s in counseling program here where I am going to be specializing in addiction and eating disorders. And I’m here today with Amy.

Amy Roberts: Hi, my name is Amy Roberts. I’m a licensed clinical social worker, and I work in the counseling unit of health services here at Boise State. 

Laci Whipple: This is BroncoTales with College of Health Sciences. I kind of wanted to start off by defining what body positivity is.

This episode will be about body positivity, and I think I actually have a hot take on it. I’ll talk about it in a little bit, but I think body positivity is just kind of a mindset shift, more towards gratitude about our bodies and thinking more in terms of like health and well-being outside of weight and what we look like. And really just learning to love ourselves and our bodies, but I’m curious to know what your take is on it. 

Amy Roberts: Sure, when I think about the origins of the body positive movement, it really comes from a place where there are marginalized or disenfranchised individuals who are attempting to reclaim their right to have an authentic identity that might fall outside a narrowly defined, narrowly predicated social and cultural lens. So it helps impact people who may not just fit a definition of health or beauty, but also honoring their place as a valid member of society in a cultural lens, social economic lens, embodiment overall. 

Laci Whipple: I love that. I absolutely love that. I think I actually had a conversation with Elizabeth Scott, who is one of the founders of the Be Body Positive curriculum that we use here at Boise State. Both in my body image discussion groups and in your counseling groups. And a conversation that I had with her was that, you know, talking about body image just implies how we appear and how other people perceive us externally, but it’s more about embodiment disruptions. She’s just such a master of language as you are, too, but the embodiment disruptions are about like when you struggle with body image. It’s so much more than just what you look like or how people see you, but how you live life and experience life in your body in the world. 

Amy Roberts: Totally. When we look at rates of…eating disorders, disordered eating, or body image concerns, people who have marginalized identities in other areas of their life tend to be overrepresented and undertreated.

So it is important, I think, to take that more of a biopsychosocial lens in looking at embodiment. 

Laci Whipple: Absolutely. I have a question, like what do you think body positive culture looks like Boise State? 

Amy Roberts: I think at Boise State, body positive culture can be accessed in a couple ways. Obviously, in my role in the counseling department at Health Services, we have an integrated team. So we have counselors and medical staff. Historically, we’ve had a dietician, and hopefully we’ll get one again soon. But working as a collaborative team is super helpful. Individual therapy, group therapy, and accessing informed medical care is part of how body positively looks at Boise State.

I believe we’re moving in a direction where the dialogue is getting more robust across campus. And that’s encouraging. 

Laci Whipple: Yeah, I love that. I love that it’s kind of starting in like health services in the medical part because I haven’t noticed–I think recently it’s becoming more campus-wide. But I feel like the focus so far has been in health services and the resources that students have on campus, for like a counseling setting and medical setting as well.

And I’m excited to be a part of spreading that on campus and providing that information and helping students know the resources that they do have. In addition to just helping people start thinking about body image and being more body positive. 

Amy Roberts: Totally. I think it is also a good idea to give a shout-out to the Gender Equity Center. And as much as people who identify in the queer community are one of those special populations that tend to have a higher predominance rate, and it makes sense to think about why.

When people make assumptions about you based on a visual scan, gender is on there, sexuality is on there, health and beauty is on there. And so I know that the Gender Equity Center is another entity on campus that is a proponent of acceptance and positivity. 

Laci Whipple: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, that goes back to embodiment, right? People in the queer community might have a different embodiment experience. And I think it’s super important to be inclusive of that and like, really focus our messaging and culture around that too.

Can I share my hot take? So, my hot take, I think, is that body positivity is like such a great place to be, such a great place to like direct people, but it’s still about bodies. And I’m a big proponent of like, we’re so much more than what our bodies look like. It’s so much more than our bodies. Like, yes, we have this embodied experience, but also what we do in the world, how we change the world, how we interact, how we treat other people, how we experience things, and the awesome things that we do to help make changes in the world and for the people around us is just so much bigger than just like our body. 

I think that’s positivity in general, leave out the body part. But I think it’s just so important to focus on who we are as people and what we do and how we treat other people, rather than it is to even focus on our bodies. 

Amy Roberts: Sure. I like your hot take, Laci, about redefining what body positivity is at its core, and not looking at it through the lens of just like, well, is it aesthetics? Is it about how you look or what your body can or can’t do? But a larger utility of our humanity is really an act of rebellion. 

Laci Whipple: Yeah, absolutely, rebellion against diet culture and beauty standards and even powers that be and socioeconomic issues and all kinds of things that you’re rebelling against when we start talking about that.

Amy Roberts: Yeah, it’s a radical act to say like this is not just about how I look or how I move through this space. But what I bring to the dialogue, what we all bring to the dialogue, and as a society, is where we want to move. 

Laci Whipple: Yeah, it’s equity too, I think, yeah. You know, we have Body Acceptance Week here at the Boise State campus. I think talking about body acceptance is sometimes a step towards body positivity and, there’s probably a hot take there too. I think like people…people can be in like a real space or rut where it’s like they really are hating on their bodies. They’re really unhappy, there’s a lot of diet talk or body talk or a lot of negativity.

So I think when we’re talking about body acceptance, it is kind of filling that gap, like body positivity might feel like too big a gap to leap over for some people. And I think just talking about acceptance is just kind of living in that space that our bodies are vessels for the other things that we do in our lives. It’s just how we move through the world and like how can we get to a place of neutrality with that. And then ultimately body positivity, but also just a much larger view on who we are as humans. 

Amy Roberts: Yeah, I agree. There are times when feeling positive can feel inaccessible, like you said, Laci.

So, looking at reshaping those expectations and acceptance utility or neutrality sometimes can feel more accessible to people who are starting to evaluate their sense of self through their body. 

Laci Whipple: Yeah, definitely. Where do you want to see the body positive culture? What direction do you want it to go on the campus? 

Amy Roberts: Some ideas I have around that would be to incorporate more inclusive marketing, representation, and accessibility. 

Laci Whipple: Absolutely. Yeah. Do you want to elaborate on those? 

Amy Roberts: I think one of the bits of feedback that I get from the students, faculty and staff that I work with directly at the counseling center here at Boise State, is that there are some spaces that they may not feel super comfortable and that may not be super accommodating to people of a variety of body sizes. 

Laci Whipple: Yeah, absolutely. What are any ideas that you have for addressing that? Is there anything specific that you would like to talk about? 

Amy Roberts: Organizational culture flows from the top. 

Laci Whipple: Absolutely.

Amy Roberts: So being able to have conversations, and I believe and hope that they are at a leadership level wanting to diversify our campus in a number of different ways, including how to make people feel comfortable sitting in the stadium. Or the Morrison Center or renting equipment, for example. 

Laci Whipple: Yeah. I love that. What would you say is like the biggest and not the most frequent issues that you’re seeing on campus from the counseling perspective in terms of like embodiment? 

Amy Roberts: One big thing that came immediately to mind is the freshman population. So folks are coming here sometimes for the very first time, making food and movement choices on an autonomous level. Sometimes, if they are beholden to the meal plan and live on campus, those are sometimes restrictive for people. So they’re kind of like learning how to be adult in some ways. And that includes like, how do I use my swipes? When do I access this food as opposed to this one? And that can be so overwhelming for people. 

Laci Whipple: Yeah, so for people listening, what do you say to people who have those questions or concerns? 

Amy Roberts: Let’s say like, adopt a curious mindset, be interested in how you feel after making certain choices related to nutrition and movement and trust your gut. 

Laci Whipple: I love that. Yeah. That’s more in the direction of like intuitive eating, right? What do you say? 

Amy Roberts: Yeah, totally. 

Laci Whipple: Awesome. I feel like that’s a whole other topic. Okay, yeah, I think just to wrap everything up, body positivity is so much more than just about how we look. It’s gratitude, but it’s also how we experience the world. How we treat other people. And I think like we kind of covered some of the resources available on campus, the gender equity center, and group counseling. I think we’ve definitely got some goals to take to the top. It sounds like making a more weight-inclusive campus and just getting to a point where people of all body sizes and shapes can be comfortable here. 

Amy Roberts: Totally. Thank you for inviting me to take part in this conversation today. 

Laci Whipple: Awesome. Thanks for being here. 

James Sherpa: Thanks for listening to BroncoTales. Join us next week to uncover the secrets of being a radiologic technologist. We’ll see you there.

Kristie Hanson: That was a little weird, just walking out with the guy’s finger, putting it on the X-ray plate. But I’m like, he’s still in the room. Yeah, so that was definitely probably one of the most interesting things.