Publications & Sites 
Robert Crown program looks at ‘perfection’
The Robert Crown Center's Express Youself class also teaches girls about healthy body image.
Happy to be Me!
What: A luncheon, with raffle baskets/silent auction of items for girls and their mothers. Vendors from boutique shops will sell merchandise prior to the lunch.
Speaker: Leslie Goldman
When: From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2
Where: Drury Lane Theatre and Conference Center in Oakbook Terrace
More information: Contact Barb Thayer at (630) 325-1900, Ext. 235 or via email at bthayer@robertcrown.org; or look at the website, www.robertcrown.org and click on events.
Updated: February 19, 2013 11:53AM
HINSDALE — Mothers and daughters registering for an afternoon fundraiser next month at Drury Lane hope to get more than a delicious lunch and a door prize.
The Feb. 2 event, Happy to be Me! will look at the issue of self-esteem and provide tools to help girls build confidence and a positive self-image.
Leslie Goldman, a writer of health articles and author of the Locker Room Diaries: The Naked Truth about Women, Body Image and Re-imagining the ‘Perfect’ Body, will be the guest speaker.
Barb Thayer, the coordinator of Happy to be Me!, said she booked Goldman after she verified she could relate her material to young girls. The event is designed for girls 10 through 14. Thayer heard from teachers of middle schools where Goldman had spoken to students.
“The kids were enthralled with her discussions,” Thayer said.
When Thayer asked her friend Becky Arbor of Hinsdale to help organize the event, Arbor said she jumped at the chance.
“It’s something I’m passionate about, healthy living and promoting positive self-esteem in girls.”
Arbor plans to take her two daughters, a fifth-grader and a freshman at Hinsdale Central High School. She hopes the afternoon activities will open up the dialog about female role models, body image and how the media presents artificial images of beauty.
“The more we talk about it to our girls, the more they will be aware that television is not real life and they have to make decision that make them feel good about who they are,” she said.
The characters in some high school musicals and the television show “Glee,” are “not true representations of the way girls dress and act,” Arbor said.
Goldman, who has a master’s degree in public health, will offer suggestions on how to protect yourself from outside influences on how you feel about yourself.
Goldman suggests, “Take stock of the media in your home — magazines, catalogues, TV shows, video games — and get rid of anything that makes you feel badly about your body.”
That includes cancelling subscriptions to magazines that feature rail-thin models; deciding to stop watching shows that portray women in a negative light or that glorify eating disorders. She said many reality shows would fall under this category.
“If there’s a certain lingerie catalog that keeps showing up in your mailbox and it makes you feel like garbage, toss it out before opening it or call the 1-800 number on the back and ask them to stop sending it,” Goldman said. “You have the power, and the right, to live in a positive, comfortable environment.”
Tickets for Happy to be Me! are $50 per person and benefit the Robert Crown Center for Health Education in Hinsdale. Girls must be accompanied by an adult.
