Researchers, doctors and parents all have found that it's during our pre-teen and teenage years and puberty that ideas about our bodies can be really solidified. It's a crucial time of change and growth and discovery about who we are. It's also a time when beliefs are formed and ideas are fluid and anything is possible. I've had the honor to speak to lots of young people over the past four years about being an activist in your own life in big and small ways. About how to stand up for what's important - including yourself. It's something I teach all three of my children at home and a message I'm honored and thrilled to share with others.
After being asked repeatedly to teach camps and classes on body resilience and self-esteem, in 2017 I created and launched RADCAMP: A Body Image Boot Camp for Feminist Teens for girls aged 13-15 and a summer camping weekend version for women as well. (Here's a great post I wrote about the inaugural teen RADCAMP.) In 2020 I was super excited to launch Be RAD! Be YOU! A Body Image Workshop for Girls aged 10-12. Check out my Facebook page for fun photos from the event!
And now it’s back but this time I’m taking it on the road to rural Idaho! We'll be spending two hours together on Saturday October 16, 2021 at the Weiser Public Library learning about self-esteem, body image and using our words and voices to make positive change in the world. To do so, we will be utilizing an amazing book or two, a few short videos, art, activism and each other to educate and empower a new generation of Idaho feminists. All activities, supplies, a few gifts + pizza provided. Camp is open to 20 girls ages 12 and up. It's seriously gearing up to be pretty spectacular.
Thanks to proceeds from the sales of my Reviving Hilda plus-sized pin up calendar + a handful of fabulous folks who donated money from around the country, and generous support from the Friends of the Weiser Library, this year all 20 girls get to attend free of charge!
Be RAD! Be YOU! A Body Image Workshop for Girls
Who: Twenty girls age 12 and up
What: Learn about how to establish more self-esteem, your voice and a good relationship with your body over pizza, art making, laughter and fun. Each girls gets some fun gifts to take home along with a lot of knowledge
When: Saturday October 16, 2021
Time: 11am-1pm
Where: Weiser Public Library, 628 E 1st St, Weiser, ID 83672
Cost: Free!
Amy Pence-Brown is a fat feminist mother who believes in opening her mouth and her heart. From both of these places she tells stories – as a writer on her blog and other local & national publications, as a historian and adjunct faculty speaking and teaching, and as a visual artist creating subversive stitchings and performance pieces. She’s been a body image activist for the past decade and recently became internationally known for her radical stand for self-love at the Capital City Public Market in Boise, Idaho in 2015, which was documented in a blog post, photographs and a video viewed over 200 million times. Her message about the value of all bodies, no matter their size, has been covered by numerous media outlets, including CNN, USA Today, Cosmopolitan, People, TODAY, Huffington Post, Upworthy, HLN, the Dr. Oz show, SHAPE, xo Jane, TIME and Fitness magazine. She continues to lead the body positive revolution through public speaking and education, including on the TEDx stage, to students young and old, and the Boise Rad Fat Collective, a radical group of 3,500 people of all ages, sizes, colors, genders and nationalities. She also leads RADCAMP: A Body Positive Boot Camp for Feminists and Feminist Teens, builds school gardens on the Boise Bench as a school garden coordinator and was named one of the 50 Idaho Women of the Year by the Idaho Business Review in 2017. Learn more by checking out her press and interviews here.
FOLLOW ALONG ON THE FACEBOOK EVENT FOR MORE FUN DETAILS AND PHOTOS!
QUESTIONS OR TO REGISTER:
weiserpubliclibrary@cityofweiser.com or calling (208) 549-1243
Want to help fund the next generation of Idaho feminists? You can contribute a one time donation to help me continue reaching young people with the important message of body positivity and self-love by using the PayPal button below. Any little amount helps!
You can also support my art, writing, classes and camps and my work as a creative changemaker on Patreon for a monthly donation of $5, $10 or $25. In exchange you get some exclusive content, including writing and some of my feminist art photography by using the button below!