PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Love Your Body Action
by marie Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2004 at 12:13 PM

Coinciding with national Love Your Body Day on Wednesday, October 20, Yinz Cheer, Pittsburgh’s radical cheerleading group, took action against negative body image promotion and the diet industry’s attack on women’s self esteem through street theatre performances downtown throughout the lunch hour.

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After a security guard at the PPG Plaza told them to never come back, Yinz Cheer took their message to various street corners where passersby were much more receptive to the cheers. A supporter of the radical street theatre group handed out flyers that gave statistics on the negative effects of the diet-industry, suggesting some ways of defining physical fitness that don't have to do with an arbitrary number on a scale.

“We want to say that we love our bodies just the way they are, suggesting that others could do the same,” says radical cheerleader Amy Benson. “We want people to confront the fact head-on that it might be okay to love your body right now, the way it is today, rather than for its potential to lose 15 pounds and then actually be okay.”

To find out more about the Pittsburgh radical cheerleaders, e-mail radcheerleaderspgh@yahoo.com.

(photo above) Taking over Market Square right after the “Stop Violence Against Women” rally.

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Love Your Body Day
by marie Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2004 at 12:13 PM

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Talkin’ to people about lovin’ their bodies at the Wood Street T.

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