The Sorority Body Image Program Group Leader Guide

Teens and young adult women are highly likely to experience some level of body dissatisfaction, which if ignored can result in unhealthy dieting habits, anorexia or bulimia. One in ten adolescent females experience threshold or subthreshold bulimia nervosa, but less than 25% of them ever seek treatment. Because body dissatisfaction is so prevalent in our society, it is often overlooked until it becomes a life-threatening illness. Treating low body image before it turns into a more serious health risk is the best way to protect young women's health. This intervention program stops the onset of dangerous body dissatisfaction by teaching participants to understand and reject the hoax of society's 'thin ideal.' Young women in college are at a particularly high risk for dangerous body dissatisfaction, and this risk can be exponentially increased for members of sororities. In efforts to combat this problem, many sororities now offer eating disorder awareness programs for their members. This adaptation of the successful Body Project program is designed specifically for use by sororities - workbook examples, exercises, and facilitator's instructions have all been tailored for use in a sorority setting. The accompanying workbook contains various assignments that keep participants thinking critically about the thin ideal.