Real Talk
'Road Rules' alumnae speak about women's issues, causing support and
opposition from discussion
By REBECCA MARTIN
With the seats half-filled in the Satellite Student Union on Wednesday
night, “Road Rules” alumnae Veronica and Rachel began their
presentation with a reel made by MTV, which featured “Real World”
personalities, including Trishelle from “Real World Las Vegas,”
who was shown dealing with a possible eating disorder. In another scene,
“Real Word Chicago” cast member Cara broke down after a male
cast member pinched her stomach.
Veronica and Rachel discuss women's issues in the Satellite Student
Union on Tuesday night. Photo by Joseph Hollak |
Veronica and Rachel kept the reel lighthearted.
The presentation continued with the former “Road Rules” stars
showing different pictures of celebrities from magazines, including “US
Weekly” and “Star” and explaining how the pictures showed
them in a negative light.
Veronica and Rachel came to Fresno State as part of a night to talk about
women’s issues. USU Productions put on the event.
“If you're not a size 2, 0 or even -2, they want to show a negative
picture of you,” Rachel said.
Veronica then spoke about her experience at the Mall of America in Minnesota.
She said the mall featured a store that carried lingerie in larger sizes,
and it was a rare enough display that it made her stop in her tracks.
“Women sizes 8 and 10 want to feel sexy, too,” Veronica said.
When the topic changed to doctored images in magazines, the two television
personalities talked about the images celebrities, like Britney Spears
and Kate Winslet, portray.
Two pictures of Spears were on the screen: one from her greatest hits
album, and another, a candid shot, taken at a beach. Veronica and Rachel
pointed out the differences in the two pictures, showing that even celebrities
who ordinary women look up to on magazine covers do not have perfect bodies.
“I would bet that when Britney looks in the mirror,” Rachel
said, “she doesn’t see what people in America see when they
look at pictures of her.”
The lecture ended with Veronica and Rachel encouraging students to get
help for any possible problems they have while in college.
“College is the best place to get help because it’s free,”
Rachel said. “When you get out of college, you have to pay.”
After the presentation, a question-and-answer session got heated when
a small group began discussing the message of the two reality show stars,
questioning their validity on key women’s issues, such as obesity,
body images and eating disorders.
One student called the students who were arguing with Veronica and Rachel
“haters,” which was followed by applause.
“This reinforces the fact that people can’t talk about serious
issues, that the whole audience turned on us,” said women’s
studies and sociology major Michelle Colvin, who is an active member of
the Peace and Civil Liberties Union.
Matilde Gonzalez did not enjoy the presentation, either.
“How can I listen to someone who’s not practicing what they
preach,” Gonzalez said, pointing out that Rachel was talking about
stereotypes in the media while she was wearing a shirt that revealed her
stomach.
The majority of the audience did not agree with Colvin and Gonzalez.
“They pointed out a lot of things about what I see in the media,”
said liberal studies major Kasey Kuntz, “and they showed me I'm
not as different from Britney Spears as I thought.”
Kuntz spoke during the question-and-answer portion in support of Veronica
and Rachel's presentation and was upset by what some people were saying
against television reality stars.
“It's like saying, ‘Yeah, you're here, and you're not good
enough,’ ” Kuntz said. “Just because they're presenting
something differently doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Just because
they’re skinny, they're still saying stuff that matters.”
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