Positive Body Image Seminar teaches young girls about body diversity, self-love and more

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - UVA student-athletes are taking time to talk to middle and high school girls about body image and body diversity.

The second annual Positive Body Image Summit was held at Boar’s Head Resort Sunday, September 25. Speakers at the event showed the younger students that bodies come in so many different forms. They offered personal stories that showed how strength, vulnerability, and knowledge helped them learn to love their own bodies.

“I just want the young girls to know, regardless of their body type, figure, all of it, that they’re beautiful and not alone,” Camryn Lexow, a former soccer player, said.

UVA student-athletes say body image and self-esteem can be heavily influenced by society.

“I know that social media and a lot of what girls see, young girls see, can portray what a female body is supposed to look like and what is deemed beautiful,” Lexow said.

The director of Positive Body Image, Jada Cox, says this idea of needing to change your body can start at a young age.

“A lot of these body-image concerns - the comparison, the discrimination with size-ism, and all the other isms - they occur in middle school. Really, around that seventh to eighth grade,” Cox said.

To prevent these issues, they wanted to promote honest conversations.

“I think its important to teach young girls and help young girls by sharing personal stories,” Lexow said. “That way as they grow and develop in those really critical stages of high school, college, they’re already prepared to face what the world is going to throw at them.”

Lexow and many other student-athletes shared their challenges during the event.

“I used to weigh myself everyday,” Lexow said. “I was really fixated on one weight.”

She says she struggled with body dysmorphia for years, but with dedication and support, she overcame it.

“So every time I would look into the mirror and think a negative thought , I would write a positive thought on a sticky note and put up there until it was covered to know that I don’t have to look in the mirror to know I’m beautiful,” Lexow said.

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