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 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.”