Bryn Mawr's Body Image Council will mark Body Image Awareness Month this February with its annual production of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, a film series, a movement workshop designed to help women integrate body, mind and spirit, and a weekly support and reading group that will earn P.E. credit for participants.

Harin Feibish

New this year is the Embodiment Workshop, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 8 p.m. in the Quita Woodward Room. Led by Harin Feibish, a nationally recognized authority on the treatment and prevention of eating and body-image disorders, the workshop aims to help women "re-experience the joy of being in their bodies in a place of safety and connection with other women." Its movement and visualization exercises are designed to address the needs of all women, regardless of size, who struggle with body-image issues. The workshop is open to Tri-College students, faculty and staff.

Performances of The Vagina Monologues, produced, directed and acted by students, will take place on Thursday, Feb. 11, and Friday, Feb. 12, in Thomas Great Hall. Ensler wrote The Vagina Monologues in 1998, after she interviewed women around the world about their vaginas. It includes 17 monologues in different women's voices about their experiences. Called "funny and poignant" by The New York Times and "intelligent and courageous" by The Daily News, the play looks at the mystery, humor, pain, power, wisdom, outrage and excitement in women's experiences. Each performance will be preceded by Vulvapalooza, a women's health and information fair, at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall. The events, which are open to the general public, are part of V-Day, a global movement that aims to halt violence against women and girls. The play is open to the general public; for ticket information, e-mail jpayson@brynmawr.edu.

A film series, open to Tri-Co faculty, students and staff, will include three films dealing with body-image and eating issues, to be screened on three successive Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in Thomas 224:

• Wednesday, Feb. 2: The Truth About Cats and Dogs stars Janeane Garofolo as a successful veterinarian and talk-show host who asks her friend, a model (played by Uma Thurman) to impersonate her when an attractive listener wants to meet her.

• Wednesday, Feb. 9: Real Women Have Curves, directed by Patricia Cardoso, stars America Ferrera as a Mexican-American teenage girl who is coming of age in a boiling cauldron of cultural expectations, class constrictions, family duty and her own personal aspirations.

• Wednesday, Feb. 16: Eating is described as "a very serious comedy about women and food," filmed in a cinéma vérité style by director Henry Jaglom. Helene, played by Lisa Blake Richards, invites several close friends to celebrate her 40th birthday and discovers that none of the women present at the party will swallow a bite of cake.

A Body Image/Eating Issues Support Group will begin in February (the precise date has yet to be announced) and meet once a week on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. The group is for students who are struggling with body image and/or eating issues and is led by a therapist who specializes in this area. P.E. credit will be given to those who attend all meetings. Students who are interested should e-mail mahrens@brynmawr.edu.

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