It was 9:30 p.m. on a Saturday night. I just finished a slice of pepperoni pizza and was sitting in front my desk, staring at the blank screen of my laptop. Waves of regrets and anxiety overwhelmed me as I felt the fullness of my stomach. Why did I allow myself to eat that greasy pizza? Self-hatred grasped my throat. I felt terrible. I just wanted to throw myself into the bed and cry.

Does this sound familiar to you? Have you ever experienced moments of similar depression?

On Tuesday, February 21st, all the boarding girls at Williston gathered in Reed Center and together watched a 2016 Australian documentary film called Embrace. The movie addresses the problem that 90% of women are “highly dissatisfied” with their bodies and celebrates the beauty of all kinds of body types.

The director of the movie, Taryn Brumfitt, is a mother of three kids, a writer, and also the founder of The Body Image Movement. In 2012, her Facebook post of two pictures comparing her body before and after giving birth received wide attention. In the movie, Brumfitt told the audience that after her post, she got thousands of emails from all around of the world; all were about women disliking their bodies, suffering from body image anxieties, and crying for help. From there, she decided to make the movie.

On her website, Brumfitt wrote: “My role is to harness and facilitate positive body image activism by teaching people the value and power of loving their body from the inside out.”

The movie discusses plastic surgeries, eating disorders, beauty models, social discriminations, and more. Mia Freedman, editor of Australian Cosmopolitan, and Amanda de Cadenet and Ricki Lake, television talk-show hosts, also participated in the production and shared their stories.

Saying no to the objectification of women and the extremely narrow beauty standards, the movie brought precious positive energies into people’s life. Williston students and faculties shared their thoughts after viewing the movie.

“I think the movie has a strong message to love your body. I am impressed by those people who have overcome their inferiority complex,” sid Momoka Oda ’19. “But at the same time, in my personal opinion, I don’t disagree with the advertisements which use blond, blue-eyed girls. If you are happy with being skinny, then do it. The important thing is to love your body.”

Freshman Keyu Lu said: “Embrace is really inspiring because I started to be proud of my body. We should be proud of ourselves under any situations since we are unique.”