Light Up The Knight- Campus Engagement

I attended Light Up The Knight for one of my campus engagements. This event was appropriately held on October 1^st, the first day of Domestic Violence Awareness month. The seminar was to recognize and honor victims of domestic, dating and sexual abuse. There were many speakers including a UCF student who told her story about her abusive relationship, and it’s long-term effects on her. Her relationship was anything but healthy; she was not able to spend time with anybody but her boyfriend, and he kept track of her every move. The relationship ended when her boyfriend raped her, and then her whole world came spiraling down. She went into a deep state of depression and was suicidal for three years following the relationship. While her story is extremely sad, she was able to get her life back on track and is much stronger than she used to be. She is an inspiration to us all.

Two girls spoke of a former UCF student, Danielle, who was killed by her boyfriend this past year. They spoke highly of Danielle and described her as an adventurous, fun-loving girl who had everything going for her. All of that changed when she met her boyfriend. He controlled her entire life, even though they were in a long distance relationship. She became estranged from her friends and family and eventually moved to New York to be with her boyfriend. Soon she went into hiding from her boyfriend, and unfortunately lost her life to him.

This was a very emotional event. The idea of being in an abusive relationship is unfathomable. I wasn’t aware how common domestic violence is, until the deputy mentioned a few incidents that happened in the past week alone. I think that people are afraid to report domestic violence for many reasons. The victim doesn’t want to betray they’re partner, or get them in trouble, or they really do believe that the last time will be the last time. Whatever the reason is, victims should not be afraid to seek out help, and find a way out of the situation.

Throughout the event, I couldn’t help but think about one of my best friends. At the beginning of this year, one of her friends from back home was almost killed by her ex-boyfriend. He stabbed her in the neck and head 17 times, but she survived. There were two people walking down the sidewalk and when they saw what was happening, they intervened and saved the girl’s life. If there were more people in the world like the two people who saved her life, the world would be a much better place. There are so many people who ignore violent situations because they do not want to get involved. Something as simple as educating people on violence prevention can be the difference between life and death, so why aren’t we doing more to prevent domestic violence?

Here I am at Light Up The Knight!

The Beauty Ideal

Women who are thin and tall, have perfect skin, and are white and heterosexual seem to fit into the “Beauty Ideal” (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208). The media is constantly telling girls that they need to be skinny to be accepted. The desire to fit into the “beauty ideal” can lead to issues much greater than wanting to fit into a size two. Kim Chernin’s “The Tyranny of Slenderness,” she describes the “beauty ideal” as an unattainable goal that we are all trying to obtain (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208). Eating disorders have become much more prevalent in our society, and this is largely due to the media’s portrayal of beauty. Girls and women are constantly striving, and starving, to be skinny, when in reality, they are causing much more harm than they are good.

Eating disorders, such as Anorexia, ruin women’s lives; they shut themselves out from the world and are consumed by their desire to control their weight. In Abra Fortune Chernik’s “The Body Politic,” she states, “eating disorders affect us all on a personal and a political level,” (Chernik 602). By this she means that even if you do not have a full-blown eating disorder, most of us are affected by the desire to fit into the “beauty ideal,” and we are consumed with negative thoughts about our bodies. We have grown accustomed to the “toxic cultural environment” that surrounds us and dictates what our bodies are supposed to look like (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 208). Advertisements for diets and weight loss supplements and photo shopped images of models flood the media, putting a damper on girls’ self confidence and causing emotional, and even physical, turmoil for girls who are still just trying to figure out who they are.

The “beauty ideal” says that being overweight is a terrible thing. If being overweight were negatively affecting your health, then yes, maybe it would be a good idea to drop a few pounds, if it means you will be healthier. But usually this issue of being overweight is more for aesthetics than anything else (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 209). Many women have begun to accept their size and are doing positive things in the women’s community to change the way we view beauty. While the “beauty ideal” has had an extremely negative impact on women’s lives, at least there has been some good come out of it, too.

Works Cited

Chernik, Abra F. "The Body Politic." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York: Mcgraw Hill, 2010. 599-603.

Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Health.” Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 207-223.