MEDIA RELEASE
October 2007
EDEN says Love Your Body

An Auckland non-profit organisation wants us to do the unthinkable. The Eating Difficulties Education Network (EDEN) is urging us to ‘love our bodies’. Apparently this is something we are not particularly good at. But in just a few weeks time we’d better be ready for some positive thinking about our bodies. October 17th is international Love Your Body Day and EDEN wants us to take a stand against the harmful beauty myth.

On Love Your Body Day 2007, EDEN is hosting a community mural-painting event in Aotea Square between 12 noon and 5pm. The public will be invited to paint their response to the phrases such as, “Why I love my body…”and “Real beauty is...”, on a huge canvas. Various kiwi celebrities will also be participating in the event and great prizes will be up for grabs.

But the body-celebrations don’t end there. For those who truly love their bodies, funky Love Your Body t-shirts are on sale on the EDEN website (www.eden.org.nz).

EDEN director Maree Burns says the event is a great way for kiwis to celebrate their bodies. “We need to embrace body diversity and promote body satisfaction. Young women deserve to grow up feeling good in their own skins. We tend to have such a narrow view of what beauty is”, she says.

In our overly image conscious world we are constantly told what is beautiful and what is not. Celebrities are criticised for being too skinny but are also blasted for being overweight. This endless body obsession affects many of us, particularly women. Studies have indicated that up to 80% of women are dissatisfied with their bodies. Body dissatisfaction is a key factor in the development of disordered eating.

This is something Burns has a first-hand experience of. The EDEN director suffered from an eating disorder during her teenage years. Although she has long since recovered, the experience is the driving force behind her work at EDEN.

On Love Your Body Day 2007, EDEN wants us to re-think our body image perceptions. “Imagine what a difference it would make if kiwi women were supported to focus on their strengths and talents rather than their body shape?”, says Burns.

EDEN is a community agency providing services to people with eating difficulties and working in the community to promote body satisfaction and prevent disordered eating. EDEN currently does not receive any government funding and is reliant on grants from philanthropic trusts, corporate partnerships and donations from the public to run its services

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