Stacy Nadeau, one of the models in Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign, discussed her experiences as a model in a society becoming more accepting of different body images as gave advice to the next generation yesterday.

Alpha Phi and Reflections, a student organization focused on body image issues education, brought Nadeau to give a speech at Graham Chapel as part of Love Your Body Week—a week-long series of events aiming to combat underlying issues of negative body image among students.

Nadeau pointed out from her own experience that college students, both women and men alike, often feel pressured into looking a certain way in order to conform to society—an idea that Nadeau hopes to help dispel.

“Four percent of women feel beautiful or use that word to describe themselves, which means 96 percent do not feel it. They went on to say they would change things about their body if they had the choice,” Nadeau said.

As Nadeau pointed out, this problem arises from the unreal expectation set by the media forcing women and younger girls to strive for bodies the models themselves can’t even naturally achieve.

“The gentleman who helped us get ready for our photo shoot had also previously worked for Pantene Pro-V and he told us that when he got those models ready for the Pantene Pro-V shoot, he would blow-dry and straighten their hair for three and a half hours before they took their photo,” Nadeau said.

In order to be happy in your own body, according to Nadeau, the key is to set your own goals based on what makes you feel most comfortable, not based on what other people either directly or indirectly tell you.

“We really wanted to help women feel good about themselves. To make them feel healthy. To encourage women to find and feel their very own best, healthy self,” Nadeau said. “Your own best, healthy self, is yours. It’s different from every single person in this room. Every single person in your family. Every single person on this campus. It’s just yours.”

The Dove Real Beauty campaign, of which Nadeau is a part, reached magazines, televisions and newspapers across the country as personal testimonies poured in, including one from a mother who told Nadeau the pictures gave her daughter hope through her struggle with anorexia.

“The woman looked at me, stared me straight in the eyes, and said ‘you guys have no idea what you’ve just done. You have no idea. That billboard you’re standing in front of is the reason my daughter’s alive,'” Nadeau said.

Even with this positive response, there were still a few skeptics, including a Chicago Sun Times reporter, who spoke out against the ads describing Nadeau and the other women as unpleasing to look at.

“A public apology had been written to the six Dove women and to women everywhere. Thousands flooded his snail mail, email and voicemail telling him exactly what they thought about the article…Sure, a few of those people wrote in to stick up for me, but most importantly, people wrote in to stick up for themselves and their families,” Nadeau said.

Freshman Sammy Levin was appreciative that Nadeau made sure to address the fact that women are not alone in this struggle as men too face body images from the media.

“Although I have personally experienced the amount of body image pressure that the media sends to girls and women, I also think it’s important to legitimize men’s insecurities,” Levin said.

Nadeau’s final advice was for the students listening, the rest of the student body and society as a whole to not be hesitant to put their own opinions out there, whether on the issue of body image or anything else.

“We have the power to change things. We have the power to speak up, use our voices and change thing we don’t believe in,” Nadeau said. “One voice is so powerful.”