Event Focuses on Redefining Beauty for LDS Women and Youth
Contributed By Valerie Johnson, Church News staff writer
Young women who recognize their divinity as offspring of God can feel confident in their beauty.
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
Over 650 women and youth from 11 stakes in the greater Los Angeles area attended a “Beauty Redefined” event at the Canoga Park California Stake Center. Lindsay Kite and Lexie Kite Bunderson, twin sisters with doctorates in media and body image, gave a presentation on recognizing the harmful ways the world presents women, redefining what beauty and health mean, and how to become resilient to damaging messages using principles of the gospel.
The sisters showed pictures of celebrities before and after their images were “photoshopped” for covers of magazines and other advertisements, creating damaging, unreal expectations for women. They urged attendees to be critical of the media and to stop being critical of themselves by rephrasing negative self-talk.
With body shame and eating disorders at epidemic levels, Sister Kite and Sister Bunderson’s research has found that women who feel OK with their bodies are motivated to love and care for them and make healthy lifestyle choices and are less likely to suffer from depression, discouragement, and a sedentary life, regardless of their body size. Young women who recognize their divinity as offspring of God can feel this confidence, they taught.
