The Center for Women’s Studies at the University of North Alabama kicked off Women’s History Month with Feel Good Naked Week. The event was held in the GUC Atrium from March 1-2. Students were welcome to come by for feminist stickers, bracelets, postcards and body positive coloring sheets.

“Since March is Women’s History Month, we are doing Feel Good Naked Week,” said Shanise Allen, the graduate assistant for the Mitchell-West Center for Social Inclusion and the Center for Women’s Studies. “This whole month, this event, was just to show body positivity. Love your body,” 

Allen was joined by PhD student, Tia Pace, in hosting Feel Good Naked Week, along with the Associate Director for the Mitchell-West Center for Social Inclusion and the Center for Women’s Studies, Alyson Bergner. 

“[The event] is exactly what it says – encouraging and promoting everyone to feel good naked,” said Pace. 

Feel Good Naked Week has been a collaboration between the Center for Women’s Studies and Student Counseling Services since its start in 2016. After the Mitchell-West Center for Social Inclusion was founded, they teamed up with the Center for Women’s Studies to continue the event.

“We all just kind of collaborated on celebrating women’s bodies and the female body here on campus,” said Bergner. “Feel Good Naked Week is exactly what it says it is – it’s about feeling confident and comfortable in your own skin. I think having conversations and normalizing that is really important.”

The main attraction for Feel Good Naked Week was silhouette drawings of three different body types. Students were encouraged to color the silhouettes and write positive affirmations around them. 

“I have always been super body positive and about self love,” Pace said. “That’s why I asked my friend to draw silhouettes, specifically different body types so we can be inclusive at Feel Good Naked Week.” 

Pace’s friend, Coven Dickey, drew the silhouettes. Dickey is a junior at UNA majoring in Art with a concentration in painting. She attended Feel Good Naked Week and expressed her appreciation for the event. 

“I like it – I think it’s great!” said Dickey. “I enjoy that this kind of activity is out for the public. It’s nice to see someone sit down and really think about this kind of stuff and feel good about it. It’s nice to have a whole bunch of representation so maybe [people] will relate to the body types.” 

Dickey’s drawings were inspired by her friends, and she got several of them to pose for her while she drew their silhouettes. 

“I had fun drawing the silhouettes and seeing different people, and hopefully finding things that other people will relate to,” Dickey said. 

Although this event was part of UNA’s Women’s History Month Celebration, the Center for Women’s Studies hopes to continue to spread body positivity throughout campus and remind everyone that all bodies are beautiful. 

“I love to see [body positivity] on campus, I wish we would do more on it,” Bergner said. “I love to see people of all body sizes celebrating themselves and the skin that they’re in.” 

The whole purpose of Feel Good Naked Week is to make people feel good in their own skin. The female body in particular has always been under a microscope, and women are constantly being told what they should and should not look like. 

“We’re deconstructing this idea of what is traditionally seen as beautiful, because we’re all beautiful and all bodies deserve to be celebrated,” Bergner said. 

The Center for Women’s Studies will continue to hold events the rest of March to celebrate Women’s History Month.