Editor's note: This story has been updated due to a legal name change.
To wrap up Beauty Awareness Week, Panhellenic Council Vice President Lesley Nickels led a discussion on beauty in diversity.
Representatives from multicultural organizations on campus and in the Muncie community gathered on Nov. 10 for the panel discussion.
“The Panhellenic Council wanted to have a conversation about beauty and how it impacts diversity,” Nickels said. “We want to reach an understanding on how the two tie together.”
Nickels led the conversation by asking panelist questions.
What beauty standards do you think society has set for people today? Where do you think those stem or originate from?
“College students have so many different ideas of what the standard is in beauty,” said Alyssa VanShock, member of Gamma Rho Lambda. “As a student you go and meet all these different people from different backgrounds and personalities and realize they all have a different idea of what this beauty standard is. You are all of a sudden faced with 'Am I doing something wrong?' or 'Am I fitting a certain standard?' That beauty standard and fitting in to that standard is constantly changing.”
Have you ever experienced pressures of the standards within your culture or backgrounds? Have you fought or given into those?
“I come from an entertainment background and had a career on Broadway,” said Amber Krzys, creator of Bodyheart company. “Going to auditions, moving to Los Angeles and being told by managers, 'Your face is really good, but can you do something about your hips and thighs?' I believed that the standard of beauty was that you are not good enough the way that you are. I really bought into that idea and it broke my body.”
“From a feminist standpoint we often look at beauty as social standard that is set and is based on skin color, weight, body shape, the way you present yourself,” said Ashleigh Bingham, who represented the Women and Gender Studies program. “It reiterates the idea that 'how I am' is not good enough. Feminism deconstructs those images and messages.”
“I was never put under any pressure to look a certain way but it wasn’t until I found feminism that I became comfortable with my body,” said Lanie Yorgen, member of Feminists for Action. “I realized that it is my own body and it is not up to you or anyone else to tell me to look a certain way.”
Have you ever faced stereotyping?
“Under the business aspect, I have found as a woman, some guys wont respect you if you don’t present yourself as masculine,” said Elizabeth DiGennaro, co-founder and vice president of Women in Business. “If you don’t walk in with a suit, or without a certain demeanor, you are completely overlooked. I think that is where we as women have to step it up and say, 'I’m not going to take no for an answer.' Confidence is key.”
“I am a Latino and the stereotype for men is you have to be macho. It’s something that the media always portrayed and my dad was taught as a kid,” said Carlos Mata, president of the Latino Student Union. “It is these stereotypes that push people away from being who they are and who they want to be and that’s something I want to break away from.”
“Self-confidence in who you are has also served to be a little bit of a barrier in itself, just in the sense that there are so many others who aren’t,” said Justin Jovceski, member of the Asian American Student Association. “When you are a person who is projecting a confidence or stepping outside of the social confines that are stereotypes, people are almost uncomfortable with that because they want you to exist in that area.”
Have you been surrounded by people who are negative and positive in your life and how has that impacted you?
“I think its important to surround yourself with both,” Bingham said. “People who can support you and appreciate who you are but also to keep those people who maybe don’t agree with how you express or present yourself. In the end, they will realize and see how much happier or enjoyable you are to be with when you have the confidence.”
Have you seen women who lack a sense of inner beauty and appreciation? How have you or how can you help them regain that?
“It is important to share what you struggle with, because what you struggle with, someone else probably is struggling with the same thing,” DiGennaro said. “It is important to start having these conversations because it just opens the door for healing.”
In regards to all we have talked about within beauty and your cultural perspectives, what would you like to see from people today?
“Be who you want to be,” said Kaitlyn Davis, program and marketing director at the Muncie YWCA. “But understand along with that, if you are asking people to be who they want to be, you need to also accept people the way that they are.”
“Don’t base your self worth on one person’s opinion of yourself,” VanShock said. “What they think of you doesn’t really matter. As long as you feel good about yourself, nothing else matters.”
“Learn to love each other and yourself,” Matas said. “If you look at yourself and are not happy with what you precise to be, then be different, be who you want to be.”
“I want to see more people stepping out of their comfort zone,” Jovceski said. “See what is out there and understand what kind of people exist. You don’t even have to except or be apart of that but learn to coexist with it.”
“I feel like it comes down to it, 'You do you, boo boo,'” Yorgen said.
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