Workshop 1: Reflections from Rikke

The “Changing understandings of body image” workshop, hosted by the Beauty Demands Project, provided an excellent opportunity for intellectually stimulating, inspiring, and at times challenging, conversations regarding our perceptions of body image. As a graduate student, this was my first workshop of this kind and I found it very encouraging. I appreciated the opportunity to present my work in progress as well as to receive feedback from academics and professionals from a variety of backgrounds. I left the workshop with the feeling that I had not only broadened my understanding of the importance of my own work, but also of the work of others, and the Beauty Demands Project as such.

The Beauty Demands Project is an interdisciplinary project operating so as to push the boundaries of our understandings of beauty. Owing to this, it works to shed light on aspects of the body image that, at times, can be neglected or taken for granted as inevitable parts of being human. I am confident that this makes the project not only highly interesting, but also important in a world in which our understandings of beauty shape and form our negotiations with both the self and others. I recommend joining the project and participating in their workshops to anyone.

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