As a relatively vocal community, Bowdoin seems to be uncharacteristically silent around the issues of eating and exercise disorders, but on Tuesday, April 14, "The Thin Line" graces Kresge's stage to address precisely these issues.
According to its Web site, "The Thin Line," written by Maine playwright Cathy Plourde and produced by the Portland non-profit organization AddVerb productions, is a short, one-woman play illustrating "one girl's struggle with her eating disorder and the struggles of those close to her in their efforts to understand and to help."
Additionally, '"The Thin Line"' helps audiences recognize the symptoms of eating disorders, promotes prevention and intervention strategies, and acts as a catalyst for individuals, friends, and family to seek support and take action."
An interactive panel with a number of people from Bowdoin health resources will follow the 30-minute performance.
Moderated by Kate Stern, the interim director of the Women's Resource Center, the panel will be made up of individuals from the eating disorder treatment team including representatives from the counseling center and the health center.
The panel will facilitate questions about the performance as well as a discussion about healthy eating and exercising habits for Bowdoin students.
"The Thin Line" is brought to Bowdoin by Peer Health Educators and BodySpeak.
"Body image and eating disorders are big concerns on this campus that are often silenced," Co-director of Peer Health Emily Skinner said. "Peer Health believes that it is important to raise awareness around these issues."
"A lot of people at Bowdoin are very athletic and strive to excel in all areas of their lives," she added. "This creates a high-stress environment and a pressure to look and eat and exercise in a certain way."
Other members of the Bowdoin community see anxiety around food, but not necessarily full-blown eating disorders.
"I'm not sure about bona fide eating disorders, but 'disordered eating' is definitely prevalent on campus," Dana Riker '10, a member of Peer Health, said.
"I think a lot of people here, both males and females pay a lot of attention to what and when they're eating and how often they're exercising. With all of the competitive, driven, motivated, dedicated students that make up Bowdoin's student body, those habits can even get a little bit out of control at times," she added.
Discussing and educating students about these eating disorders can be difficult.
While there are several resources for people with eating disorders at Bowdoin, many people choose not to use them, and communicating effectively with students about eating problems presents challenges to those trying to help.
"Educating about eating disorders or over-exercising is tricky and paradoxical," said Collin York '09, a member of Peer Health.
"You are encouraging people who struggle with these things to call attention to what they already seem to be hyper-aware of, running the risk of only adding to this awareness," he added. "I've found the most 'healthy' eaters or exercisers don't reflect or obsess about these things."
Eating disroders have become prevalent in the United States in recent years, which makes "The Thin Line" an especially appropriate outreach tool. In the United States alone, as many as 10 million women and one million men struggle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia.
These numbers do not include the 25 million more who are dealing with other forms of disordered eating patterns or exercise disorders. Anorexia has the highest fatality rate for a mental illness in the country.
Additionally, a 1996 study reported that Americans spend more than $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products each year.
Skinner hopes that this performance will open up the floor for discussion.
"There are a lot of great resources available on campus, and we want to make sure that students know how to help themselves or how to help a friend," she said. "Peer Health and Bowdoin both recognize that eating and exercise disorders are present on campus, and while 'The Thin Line' may not be comprehensive of all things, we hope that it will provide a forum to begin the conversation."
"The Thin Line" will be performed in Kresge Auditorium April 17 at 7 p.m. The show is free and open to the public.