Whether your ultimate career goal is to launch your own body-posi fashion label or counsel adolescents struggling with an eating disorder, our writers prove that you can study almost anything and still be an involved, aware and committed activist!
In fact, our writers’ varied perspectives are what make the Proud2Bme community so vibrant. We asked a few of our regular contributors how they plan on using the knowledge they’re gaining from their majors to better the world.
Here’s what they had to say:
Claire Trainor: I’m a sophomore with a double major in psychology and creative writing. Since my own recovery almost three years ago, I’ve wanted to dedicate my life to helping others who have struggled or are struggling with an eating disorder. For me, the best way to do that was to major in psychology with the eventual hope of being a therapist. I think that understanding roots of eating disorders and helping to target some of those causes, especially body image and the way we’re told we “should” look, is crucial in being able to help people who are struggling or are in recovery. It’s because of that belief and understanding that I’m drawn to body positivity and ED activism. As far as the creative writing major goes, I’ve always been a writer. It’s the easiest and most authentic way I’ve found to express myself and my feelings, and it’s something I feel I’m truly good at. I think that the ability to communicate effectively through words is an incredible skill and it’s one I work every day to improve. For me, contributing to Proud2Bme is a way to combine my love for writing and my passion for ED activism.
Annie Zomaya: I am a public relations major at Eastern Kentucky University. The same passion for writing that led me to Proud2Bme led me to this field! I plan on working in the nonprofit sector, possibly mental health, so I can continue to use my recovery journey to inspire and help others.
Alison Leigh Znamierowski: I majored in sociology at Wesleyan. I still remember the first day of Intro to Sociology 101, when my teacher asked us to become aware of how we were sitting as a way to recognize the insidious ways in which gender expectations manifest—overwhelmingly, girls had their legs crossed and men were spread out. It was so striking because I had never been taught that gender was not innate, and that there was space to play between the rigid expectations for “women” and “men.” Every time I left a sociology class, I felt lighter and freer: I was unlearning an entire lifetime of socially imbued expectations, standards, judgments and values. Taking sociology classes made me realize the ways that I was policing my own body and others’ bodies around me from a socially-imbued lens. I became more aware of those thoughts and proactively worked on releasing them. I learned that it is impossible to divorce external judgment from internal judgment; and the more you accept yourself as you are and practice self-love, the more that will translate to love and acceptance for those around you. This is one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given, and it is my ultimate wish to spread this ‘unlearning’ to others.
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Dana Land: Psychology and ED activism are incredibly important to me. That is why I chose psychology as my major and hope to work in an eating disorder treatment center as a therapist someday. I attend DePaul University where I’ve started a student organization, Recover DePaul, in hopes are spreading awareness and support on campus. Many of the other members are psychology students as well.
To continue reading this piece from our partner, Proud2BMe, click here.
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