Women Affirm Their Right to Eat

In an effort to raise awareness of eating disorders and to encourage women to eat without shame, the organizers of Take Back the Night, along with members of Eating Concerns Hotline & Outreach (ECHO) and Radcliffe Women's Action Coalition (RADWAC), held an all-female Eat-In yesterday afternoon in front of the Science Center.

While enjoying free Toscanini's ice cream and yesterday's bright sunshine, Eat-In participants said they were also taking a stand against social coercion of women.

Emily R. Von Kohorn '00, an ECHO staff member, said the event was intended to make a statement against "all the societal pressures, for women especially, to stay thin and not eat."

"Often women's lack of confidence to eat without shame rests in an inability to eat comfortably around men," Von Kohorn said. "By constructing this admittedly false environment of women only, we hope to inspire a form of solidarity among women that rarely exists around eating."

Organizers of the event said they hoped the strong female presence would make an impact.

"Women are usually afraid to have women-only events," said Take Back The Night coordinator Judith Batalion '99, who helped organize the Eat-In. "They gain a sense of empowerment from a group that is all women, and then they can bring this into their relationships with men."

Take Back the Night, an event originally intended to address domestic violence against women, now "addresses a wider range of issues," said Talya M. Weisbard '00-'99.

According to Weisbard, co-chair of the week-long event, Take Back the Night organizers were interested in the Eat-In because it concerns an issue of importance to women.

"The programming is especially important because it focuses on important problems women at Harvard are facing," Weisbard said. "One of the biggest problems on campus is eating disorders."

As men and women alike passed by the group of women, some stopped to ask questions while others merely observed.

Mia Bagneris '99, co-president of Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS) and a member of RADWAC, said she hoped the Eat-In would spread a message "even to those who have not necessarily come to the event."

"The way we address eating disorders, body image and self-esteem is usually pretty depressing," Bagneris said. "This is a direct-action approach where women can have fun and make a statement."

Several men said they were turned off by the idea of an exclusionary activity.

David I. Rosenthal '01 said, "They are parading around saying 'we can do certain things,' but they have no convincing argument. Also, the exclusionary policy against men hurts the foundation of their premise."

But Batalion argued that it was proper to limit the event to women because the issue is of greater concern to females.

"Eating disorders are a much more prominent problem with women," she said. "This isn't supposed to be free food for everyone because it is not about everybody eating. It is about women eating without shame. Making the event women-only formalizes this idea."

Von Kohorn said organizers recognize that eating disorders affect men as well as women, but felt the Eat-In would be more effective if it were limited to women only.

"The women who decided to make this women-only were the Take Back the Night representatives from RADWAC and ECHO," she said. "It is much more radical for women to be able to eat with- out shame than for men, which is not tobelittle the problems of men who do suffer fromeating concerns."

Bagneris said men were not entirely excludedfrom the event. "I told my guy friends they couldcome if they came in drag," she said.

While women shared the communal ice cream,doughnuts, cookies, potato chips and soda, othersraised concerns over the choice of fooddistributed at the Eat-In.

"What they are doing is negative," said SteveW. Chung '01. "Eating right isn't a fashionstatement--it's a health-related issue. If thepoint of this Eat-In is to have women not careabout eating and worrying about food, then theirultimate end should be health-consciousness."

"This is just another extreme: the waif lookvs. eating junk food in public," Casey J. Noel '01said.

Yet, participants said they were not promotingan unhealthy lifestyle.

"This Eat-In would not be making much of astatement if the women were eating carrot sticks,"Bagneris said. "If women want potato chips, theyshould be able to have them and not feel guilty."

The issue of eating disorders affects almostall women, and "even women without a problem feelguilty about eating a fatty snack," said SheilaWarren '98.

Some questioned the approach of the Eat-In,because they weren't sure it attracted theintended crowd.

"It doesn't attract the right people," said AmyL. Beck '00. "The women here are alreadycomfortable with eating in front of other people."

Beck acknowledged, however, that the eventfulfilled some of its goals. "The goal was aboutawareness, to get people really thinking aboutthese issues," she said

Bagneris said men were not entirely excludedfrom the event. "I told my guy friends they couldcome if they came in drag," she said.

While women shared the communal ice cream,doughnuts, cookies, potato chips and soda, othersraised concerns over the choice of fooddistributed at the Eat-In.

"What they are doing is negative," said SteveW. Chung '01. "Eating right isn't a fashionstatement--it's a health-related issue. If thepoint of this Eat-In is to have women not careabout eating and worrying about food, then theirultimate end should be health-consciousness."

"This is just another extreme: the waif lookvs. eating junk food in public," Casey J. Noel '01said.

Yet, participants said they were not promotingan unhealthy lifestyle.

"This Eat-In would not be making much of astatement if the women were eating carrot sticks,"Bagneris said. "If women want potato chips, theyshould be able to have them and not feel guilty."

The issue of eating disorders affects almostall women, and "even women without a problem feelguilty about eating a fatty snack," said SheilaWarren '98.

Some questioned the approach of the Eat-In,because they weren't sure it attracted theintended crowd.

"It doesn't attract the right people," said AmyL. Beck '00. "The women here are alreadycomfortable with eating in front of other people."

Beck acknowledged, however, that the eventfulfilled some of its goals. "The goal was aboutawareness, to get people really thinking aboutthese issues," she said