SURYA QUINONES
STAFF WRITER

CSUSM’s The Pride Center presented “The Distorted Male” on Tuesday, Feb. 21 in association with next week’s Eating Disorder Awareness week supported by the three social justice centers on campus.

The event consisted of pictures hanging from the ceiling at eye level, depicting different types of male bodies, different statistics pertaining to male eating disorders and different views about male body images.

The pictures and statistics were presented in a more engaging way which allowed students to walk around and see these different pictures and initiate conversation about them.

After students viewed the different pictures, everybody present introduced themselves and separated into teams in order to play a game that would be considered the ice breaker.

Later, after light snacks and drinks, everybody gathered to engage in a lengthy discussion about common misconceptions regarding male body images in society and what it means to be masculine or feminine.

“I knew it was there, but I didn’t realize that it was so prevalent, and it made me just realize that body image affects so much of how we see ourselves and how we see each other, even subconsciously,” Kevin Chatham, Event Specialist of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Allies (LGBTQA), said.

Chatham went on to say how he was pleasantly surprised to see students show up to an event and fully engage in discussion about such a controversial topic.

An anonymous attendee stated that the event met expectations. However, the student felt that the discussion stayed at a surface level and wished it was more critical about the topic. The attendee also stated that the event’s style was interactive and the people who attended were nice and welcoming overall.

At the end of the discussion, The Pride Center staff encouraged attendees to take the time to look at mirrors placed by the door and with markers, write a phrase stating something that they love about their bodies.

“I feel like that’s what we need to do more on campus, like create an atmosphere where everybody feels like they can talk,” Chatham said.