I don’t know about you…but I tend to compare myself to other people. I follow Victoria Secret Angels and bloggers with these amazing bodies and fabulous lives. I call having them on my feed “inspiration” but sometimes it causes me to compare my life to theirs and wonder what I could be doing better.
My friend Rachel recently shared a petition on Facebook. She’s apart of this organization called The Bare Naked Ladies. Although I’ve heard the name, I’ve never really looked into what they are doing for our community here at JMU…
Well, basically they are an AMAZING group of individuals.
The Petition can be found here: End Negative Self Talk and encourages those who sign it to “End Negative Self Talk” and practice more self-love in their lives. The petition was started by “The Bare Naked Ladies” a club on campus that promotes body positivity.
I asked Rachel to explain what The Bare Naked Ladies are about and here’s what she had to say:
“Bare Naked Ladies is a club at JMU that allows everyone to effortlessly be themselves by growing in self-love and positive body image together. We have general body meetings every other Monday at 8pm in Miller Hall, where we discuss and share experiences about important issues, like toxic relationships, making peace with the body we were given, and healthy lifestyles. We have a promotional video coming up that highlights some of the issues that we care about, like ending negative self-talk. It’s been beneficial to me coming in as a freshman because I was in the comparison mindset, constantly believing I wasn’t enough. BNL has helped me grow throughout my three years of currently being at JMU and has pushed me constantly to embrace my natural light. I can now say truthfully that I love myself, and that one of my passions is helping others love themselves, seeing the beauty that they already possess. I’ll be happy to rant to anyone about the significance of mental health and breaking that stigma”
Although it can be easy to make fun of your insecurities, it’s can be pretty damaging.
That’s why I think what Rachel and the rest of The Bare Naked Ladies are doing is great- and so needed in our community right now.
I’d also like to note that although the org is known as “The Bare Naked Ladies”, they do have nonfemale members, and encourage all genders to join them in their journey to promote body positivity and self-love.
We all deserve to love ourselves and although it can be tempting to compare ourselves to people on social media- we need to realize that the body we see in the mirror is the body we have… and we should learn to appreciate it no matter what it may look like!!
So I challenge you to join me and dozens of others and sign the petition and make a promise to love yourself!
ShoutOut! James Madison University 
That is so amazing! Honestly, when I first heard of the club, I thought it was a club honoring the band “The Bare Naked Ladies” but finding out that it is an organization that promotes body positivity is amazing. Though is it body positivity in cis-individuals or everyone as a whole? Because heteronormative standards have it so that someone outside the gender binary has to “pass” body wise in order to ‘survive’ in society. I mean I understand and am all for what they are standing for but what happens if you don’t identify with the “body we were given.” Again, I wonder if they are inclusive to everyone no matter how they identify as. And if they are, how are they promoting that to the student body? Again, this is not an attack towards them, I full-heartedly respect and am glad that they are doing what they are doing but I wonder what plans do they have to promote their organization to make it more inclusive to all because as you said, the members are mostly cis-women.
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I LOVE THIS!! I never knew this is what that organization is all about, i would have joined! I love that they are promoting self love and intersectional self love! It is so important for us feminist to ban together and help bring each other up instead of continuously tearing ourselves down. LOVE what they are doing keep up the good work!
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Love this! I think it is super important to remember that the more we make fun of our own bodies, the more we will believe that something is wrong with them! I think that saying one positive thing about yourself when you look in the mirror every day is super beneficial. You are able to remind yourself all of the things that you love about your own body, and you are teaching yourself the idea of self-love.
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