{"id":3318,"date":"2017-11-20T15:31:01","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T20:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/?p=3318"},"modified":"2017-11-20T15:31:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T20:31:01","slug":"uri-student-takes-aim-at-body-shaming-for-senior-capstone-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/2017\/11\/20\/uri-student-takes-aim-at-body-shaming-for-senior-capstone-project\/","title":{"rendered":"URI student takes aim at body shaming for senior capstone project"},"content":{"rendered":"

For her senior capstone project, psychology major is telling a story that represents many<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>The teasing started in middle school: whale; fat girl; jelly rolls; Mrs. Puff. Paola Moreno got so depressed she stopped eating breakfast and lunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want people at school to see me eating,\u201d says Moreno. \u201cI didn\u2019t want people to think of me as the fat girl having a burger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Moreno eats what she wants and likes what she sees in the mirror.<\/p>\n

For her senior capstone project at the University of Rhode Island, the Providence resident is telling her story and the stories of four other URI students in an effort to put an end to body shaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply Beautiful\u201d was one of 40 projects presented recently at the Showcase of Undergraduate Research, Scholarly and Creative Works on the Kingston campus. Moreno, who is majoring in psychology and Gender and Women\u2019s Studies, wrote a paper and created a poster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided on this topic because I really want people talking about body positivity and the horrific effect of body shaming on women who are not thin,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to be a role model.\u201d<\/p>\n

Body image is something most females struggle with at some point in their lives, says Moreno. She blames our culture, which equates beauty with slenderness. \u201cIf you are not thin or you don\u2019t have an hourglass body,\u201d she says, \u201cyou are not considered beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up, Moreno says she was always known as the \u201cchunky kid.\u201d It didn\u2019t help, she says, that she ate recklessly, living on a fast-food diet that was affordable and accessible in her neighborhood.<\/p>\n

But she didn\u2019t feel shame until middle school. A boy she had a crush on rejected her in a very public and humiliating way: \u201cHe said he didn\u2019t know if he could wrap his arms around me,\u201d she describes.<\/p>\n

Devastated, she says she \u201cstarved\u201d herself at school, only to binge at night. \u201cAnd you know the worst thing about it? I didn\u2019t lose weight. I became the big girl that did not eat.\u201d The bullying continued in high school with insults like, \u201cI didn\u2019t know Levis made jean sizes for fat people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI completely hated myself,\u201d she says. \u201cI hated myself because I wasn\u2019t pretty enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The freshmen course \u201cIntroduction to Women\u2019s Studies\u201d in the Gender and Women\u2019s Studies program changed her life. She shared her struggles with her classmates, and came away feeling that she was \u201cbeautiful the way I was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat course molded me into the person I am today,\u201d she says. \u201cIt taught me how to love myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her capstone project, she interviewed four other URI students, all of whom shared similar stories of bullying, low self-esteem, despair and, eventually, happiness. One student talked about how her parents put her on a vegetable-only diet and forced her to work out daily, starting at the age of 8. Another student spoke of her frustration being unable to find clothes her size in popular clothing stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said it was so unfair,\u201d says Moreno. \u201cShe wanted to feel beautiful but it was hard because plus-size women do not have many options in most clothing stores.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Moreno, the students talked about struggling with eating disorders and depression. Some blamed their families for a lack of support and for pressuring them to diet to look like thin siblings and relatives.<\/p>\n

Moreno cited a study by sociologist Catherine Ross, who found that being overweight does not necessarily lead to depression; what makes people depressed is the judgment from others.<\/p>\n

\u201cDepression and eating disorders are not something that happened because I woke up one day and decided to be that way,\u201d says Moreno. \u201cIt is a sickness we developed because society has a hard time accepting who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreno says she is done letting her weight define her.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople expect women to be thin and beautiful with no imperfections,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have to break those norms. At the end of the day, we are in charge of our own bodies\u2014no one else but us\u2014and it\u2019s important we feel great in those bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mindy Levine, an associate professor of chemistry and co-organizer of the research showcase, says Moreno\u2019s honesty can help other women intimidated by cultural expectations of beauty.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople should understand that body image issues and shaming do not only affect women of certain ages,\u201d says Levine. \u201cThis is a problem that has affected me personally, and I commend Paola for focusing our attention on this important topic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreno\u2019s project is \u201cwonderful and brave,\u201d says Rosaria Pisa, director of the Gender and Women\u2019s Studies program and a sociology professor.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaola\u2019s project challenges conventional expectations of female beauty and body size to declare I am beautiful just as I am,\u201d says Pisa.\u00a0\u201cThis is a powerful message that more girls and young women need to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For her senior capstone project, psychology major is telling a story that represents many The teasing started in middle school: whale; fat girl; jelly rolls; Mrs. Puff. Paola Moreno got so depressed she stopped eating breakfast and lunch. \u201cI didn\u2019t want people at school to see me eating,\u201d says Moreno. \u201cI didn\u2019t want people to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1710,"featured_media":3321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}