Adrian Northrup

With a crowbar in hand, senior Paul Groessel walked up to a bathroom scale.

Gripping the iron bar in his hands he wound up and swung at the scale, shattering it to pieces. A loud clang rang throughout the Campus Mall.

What appeared as an act of vandalism was actually an effort to promote awareness.

Groessel was one of a number of students who stopped by Campus Mall Monday afternoon to smash a scale in efforts to encourage positive body image in women and men.

“It felt good to relieve some midterm strain and pressure,” Groessel said after smashing the scale.

Students Coming Together to Promote Eating Disorder Awareness and Positive Body Image, or STEP, put on the event titled, “Smashing the Ideal.”

STEP member senior Sarah Vold said the group heard about the idea from other universities and thought it would be a good thing to bring to the UW-Eau Claire campus.

“It just connects with what our organization stands for so it was a good fit for us,” she said.

Instead of doing a presentation of healthy body images, the group wanted to try something more hands on, Vold said.

“It’s a physical act that you can actually take some aggression out on,” she said. “You can only talk to people so much and you can only tell them so many things, but when you let them actually have their hand in something I think that can send a better message.”

The title, “Smashing the Ideal”, came from the idea that what society labels “ideal” is not a positive body image, fellow member freshman Michelle Allen said.

“Basically the media is screwed up,” she said. “There are standards out there for women that aren’t probable, they’re unrealistic.”

Beyond having students smash scales, the group had a “life size” drawing of what Barbie would look like if she was real.

The drawing portrayed a seven-foot woman with large breasts and a small waist.

“We wanted to show people what we’re showing our younger generations about body image,” Vold said.

The group also created a scale where the numbers had been removed and replaced with encouraging messages.

“It’s our positive scale,” she said. “Not every scale has to be a bad scale.”

Over the course of the event students smashed about 10 scales, Vold said.

“People have really enjoyed it,” she said. “I think they understand where we are coming from.”

After participants were finished crushing scales, the group handed them information on STEP and its goals.

The organization holds weekly meetings that focus on providing support and education about eating disorders, promoting positive body image and encouraging the campus to achieve a healthy lifestyle.

Groessel said he thought the tactics in bringing light to this issue were smart on the organization’s part.

“I think it’s a good message,” he said. “It’s a good attractor and it really gets people’s attention.”