Jae West, a campaigner with The Liberators International and survivor of an eating disorder, took to Piccadilly Circus in London this past Sunday afternoon in an experiment to encourage body acceptance. West is from Perth, Australia and stated that she had an eating disorder for much of her life. For the social demonstration, she undressed and blindfolded herself, holding this sign.
This public act of self-acceptance was an effort to display how critical girls and women can be of themselves. West said, “The unrealistic expectations we place on ourselves can cause us to reject the love that others openly give because of a feeling of unworthiness.”
Standing in a busy tourist spot, West waited for women of all ages to approach her and to draw hearts on her body. Upon people beginning to pick up pens to draw hearts on her body, West states that she felt an “overwhelming sense of relief.” The video shows that not only girls and women were drawing love hearts on West’s body, but also men. West says that she “just burst into tears…After that first love heart was drawn, I felt like other were liberated to follow suit because soon all the pens were leaving my hands at a rapid pace!”
Jae West wrote about her experience in a blog post and believes that her stunt could encourage self-acceptance and help those with eating disorders and self-esteem issues around the world.
You can watch the demonstration below. What do you think about the campaign? Let us know in the comments!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJFrHwBtfJw&w=640&h=360]
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