The encouraging notes posted throughout campus today and the Women’s Outreach Center’s booth on South Oval are just part of the university’s participation in the National Organization for Women’s Love Your Body Day.

Love Your Body Day is a national initiative through NOW to give both men and women an opportunity to challenge unrealistic body images, Kathy Moxley, Women’s Outreach Center coordinator, said.

“The idea is to feel good about who we are and realize that we do not have to fit into a certain idea that is often generated by the media,” Moxley said.

The Women’s Outreach Center launched a poster campaign this week, featuring OU students celebrating their different body types and stating “I love my body.”

Sticky notes are also posted around campus encouraging students to feel good about themselves and their body types. Additionally, students can write their own encouraging notes on South Oval from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., said Quinn Cooper, an intern at the Women’s Outreach Center.

The idea for this came from Operation Beautiful, a campaign 26-year-old Caitlyn Boyle inadvertently started in June 2009.

After a tough day, Boyle felt like doing something nice for someone and so she posted a note in the public bathroom that said “you’re beautiful.” A full-time blogger, Boyle took a picture of the note and posted it on her blog.

Operation Beautiful’s mission is to post anonymous notes in public places like the gym scale or library books to encourage positive thinking, Boyle said.

“I think it is very important for people our age to remember that our worth is not defined by the media or by the grades you make but by something intrinsic defined by you,” Boyle said. Anyone who wants to participate can post a note, take a picture of it and e-mail the picture to operationbeautiful@gmail.com. Boyle then posts all of these pictures to the website.

After hearing about Operation Beautiful, Cooper thought it would be a great way to spread positive messages all across campus.

“If people walk away from Love Your Body Day feeling more self-confident or more positive about their body images, then I think it will have been a success,” Cooper said.

Other groups on campus are also participating in Love Your Body Day.

The Women’s and Gender Studies Student Association has also hosted events for the last couple years to recognize the holiday, said Stephanie Heck, Center for Social Justice program coordinator.

This year, the Women’s and Gender Studies Student Association will screen “50 Nude Women,” a short musical montage of bodies set to music to display what real women and real bodies look like, Heck said.

“I hope that students will take this opportunity to see what real women’s bodies look like and I hope that we can provide an opportunity for students to see reality and set realistic expectations for their bodies,” Heck said.

More info

» The “50 Nude Women” montage will screen at 1:30 p.m. today in Robertson Hall.