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St. Cloud State University
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Diversions
SCSU, body image gets boost
By Britt Johnsen
Published:
Thursday, October 24, 2002
Whether we like it or not, everyone has a body. As a full-time artist of more than 20 years, Larry Kirkwood told a small crowd in the Atwood Theatre Tuesday about the daunting issues dealing with body image that many of us deal with every day.
Whether we like it or not, everyone has a body. As a full-time artist of more than 20 years, Larry Kirkwood told a small crowd in the Atwood Theatre Tuesday about the daunting issues dealing with body image that many of us deal with every day.
“Dealing with reality is not the problem,” Kirkwood said. “(The) perception of reality (is).”
Kirkwood hoped to attain his goal of educating people about the threatening issues surrounded by a pessimistic body image. His exhibit and lecture called “The Body Image Project: Beauty as a Relative Concept,” are part of a larger project that is being exhibited throughout the country.
SCSU was proud to be among the 40 other universities throughout the country that are involved in bringing Kirkwood to speak to students and the community. Kirkwood has also exhibited his work in 60 other various locations throughout the country.
Part of this project is the cast impressions taken directly from bodies of specific individuals. These will be displayed outside the Atwood Theatre until Oct. 24. Kirkwood hopes that through his lecture and the exhibit, people can see what people actually look like, instead of comparing ourselves to the images imbued all over the media, as well as the beauty and fashion industries.
Eighty percent of the people Kirkwood caste had no idea that they looked the way they do. People often look in a mirror to see their bodies and compare it to a certain standard. This happens to such an extent that, after a while, people are absolutely stunned when they see and touch how their image really is.
Kirkwood also hopes to achieve a sense of body awareness that doesn’t include sexuality. He feels that bodies are too often seen as sexual reference points and objects. Bodies are more than that; they are a concept of beauty that represents all shapes, sizes, ages and ethnic backgrounds.
He wants to promote the idea that there is more to a body than the sexual parts often focused on, like chest, stomach and thighs; there are subtle body parts that are just as beautiful, yet under rated, such as elbows, collar bones and armpits. He feels that body parts should be a shape and form continuum. Beauty is promoted by him through celebrating variety.
Kirkwood recognizes the fact that health is a prominent matter. Though health is important, it should not be an aspect of superiority.
Also, he said health cannot be determined by weight. There are several overweight people who are healthy and just as many thin individuals who lead an unhealthy lifestyle. Body size absolutely does not prove physical health, nor does it prove emotional or moral health.
Yet “corporate America” still continues to reign over the general public, and is now bleeding into a younger crowd. High school girls are getting breast implants when bodies are not even done growing until age 24; models are so coveted that many students pass out during class because they are so hungry from starving to be thin; many Asian individuals try to “westernize” their faces by enlarging their nose, with complications that arise such as one enlarged nostril and one regular, or a piece of skin hanging from their face in lieu of a real nose.
There are lawsuits filed all of the time due to age, weight, gender and race discrimination. Kirkwood points out that we, the country, would save millions, even billions a year, as families and as citizens, if we would all accept differences and realize that we are all equal human beings.
Also, he points out, the money lost in these cases will not be compensated by the government.
“You can bet your lunch money that (it will be the citizens to suffer for such losses),” Kirkwood said.
No matter how abysmal the outcome, the negativity is still reinforced. Such popular shows as Friends and Seinfeld are in a setting of New York City; yet not one regularly, if ever, portrays an ethnically diverse character. Oprah, though Kirkwood supports what she has done, is pointed out to support makeovers and dieting as a means to achieve confidence. Teen magazines do the same thing.
“We need to quit giving people permission to define who (and what) we are,” Kirkwood said.
Kirkwood just wants to point out that people are not the same, and there is no one right way to be. He also wants people to know that there is so much more to people than what is on the outside.
Serial killer Ted Bundy, he acknowledges, had charm and good looks; unfortunately, he turned out to be a complex, psychotic killer who murdered a proven 30 women, but possibly up to an additional 100 to that.
Kirkwood made the point that people should look on the inside a bit further before they go making judgments about character and worth.
This lecture and exhibit was well-received by those who attended.
“I think it’s a good topic to address,” said graduate student Tina Kushava. “It shows people are other ways to look at (bodies) and gives people a better image about themselves.”
Kirkwood hopes that this project will ignite inspiration and change within people and society.
“(Change) is what this project is about,” Kirkwood said. “Change can happen. It doesn’t happen overnight, (but it can) happen.”
