Women’s Centre launches body image peer support group

Starting Feb. 25, the Laurier Women’s Centre will be hosting a body image peer support group entitled Living LOUD – Loving Ourselves Unconditionally and Defiantly – which aims to encourage body acceptance within all genders.

Through discussion and moral support, the group hopes to deconstruct and challenge the systems and views in society that contribute to body hate.

“No matter what you look like, what you weigh, everyone should be allowed to love themselves and have access to the right tools and skills to do that,” explained Women’s Centre facilitator Laura Adelman.

Topics that will be looked at in relation to how we are made to think about our bodies include sexism, racism, transphobia, ableism and capitalism.

Living LOUD is the first peer support group organized by the centre. Its facilitators believe that having a supportive community of people who have gone through similar experiences relating to body image and acceptance is one of the best ways to encourage positive changes in one’s life.

Adelman emphasized that the Living LOUD format isn’t about listening to an expert give a healthy living type of speech, it’s about sharing information and experiences to learn from one another in a safe environment.

The group is intended to “help people realize that they aren’t broken, it’s the system that’s broken,” explained Adelman.

Living LOUD meetings will take place at the WLU Women’s Centre bi-weekly on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. and will be open to all genders.