Stacy Nadeau, one of the models from the original Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, celebrates her body by embracing it and reaching out to women around the country. Nadeau, a 23-year-old native of Ann Arbor, Mich., visits college campuses to encourage positive body images and to examine the way women are portrayed in the media and diminish stereotypes.

From the Inside Out, a student organization dedicated to promoting positive body images on campus, is sponsoring Nadeau’s appearance tonight at the Woodruff Auditorium at the Kansas Union in honor of “Celebrate EveryBODY Week” in conjunction with National Eating Disorders Week, which runs Feb. 22-28.

Leslie Latham, Republic junior and president of From the Inside Out, said the week would have a number of opportunities to learn how to combat negative media messages and eating disorders.

Nadeau, who described herself as curvy, said it was important for all women to feel comfortable in their own skin.

“My goal is to make more women feel great about themselves and widening the stereotypical definitions of beauty,” she said.

Latham said she thought National Eating Disorders Awareness Week was important because men and women didn’t think about projections of women in the media every day.

“I think the Dove campaign has inspired a lot of people,” Latham said.

Audrianne Coffer, Wichita junior, said she liked the Dove advertisements because she thought the women were realistic looking.

The Dove advertisements feature women of different shapes and sizes who are meant to debunk female stereotypes.

“I think the media portrays women as usually being skinny and perfect,” Coffer said. “Women and girls see imagines of what they’re supposed to be and are disappointed when they can’t measure up.”

The most recent report by the American Psychological Association concluded that eating disorders were one of the three cognitive consequences of female sexualization in the media. The other two are depression and low self-esteem.

“I think women compete against other women,” Clare Higgins, Topeka freshman, said.

Higgins said in high school she had friends who struggled with eating disorders. She said she appreciated seeing commercials featuring women with imperfect bodies.

“They’re still beautiful,” she said.

Donna Adams, a graduate intern at the Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center, said female celebrities experienced societal pressures too. She said she was disappointed by the recent tabloid attacks on singer Jessica Simpson’s weight.

“We’re all affected by body image,” Adams said.

Sam Stepp, Mission Hills graduate student and one of the few male members of From the Inside Out, said men could help affect the way the media portrayed women by spending more time with their girlfriends and female friends and less time watching shows like “The Girls Next Door,” a reality TV show about life at the Playboy Mansion.

“Rejecting the objectification of women should be common sense,” he said. “It’s all about respect.”

In a survey conducted by Dove, 81 percent of women felt the media placed unrealistic physical expectations on women.

Ann Chapman, Watkins Memorial Health Center dietitian, said she often visited with women who had eating disorders.

Chapman said it was important to acknowledge that women experience weight fluctuation because of hormonal changes that occur on a day-to-day basis. Chapman said that on any given day, a person’s weight could fluctuate by three or four pounds.

Nadeau said one of her goals was to address the extremes women go through to achieve a certain image.

“Women have surrendered to diets and insane eating habits to live up to social stereotypes for too long,” she said.

Nadeau is sponsored by Coca-Cola, Student Senate, the Multicultural Education Fund, the Student Involvement and Leadership Center and the Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center.

Her lecture at the Kansan Union is scheduled for 7:30 tonight in the Woodruff Auditorium.

— — Edited by Melissa Johnson