A blackboard placed next to her invited people to come up and draw hearts on her body, explaining that she was carrying out the stunt to highlight people’s issues with body image.
Advertisement
“It’s fantastic what you’re doing” said one with another, adding ‘Very strong message, you’re courageous’.
Jae said the prevalence of eating-disorders and self-esteem issues were growing.
The heartwarming footage was uploaded to the internet by campaign group The Liberators global, of which Jae is a member. “I was scared that no one was going to draw a love heart on my body and I was going to be left out there in the open in my underwear on show to be ridiculed”.
When she arrived in the busy shopping area she took off her dress and stood in her underwear with arms stretched out, holding a handful of pens.
West, who has suffered from an eating disorder previously herself, recalls feeling an immediate shift in the air and says her heart began to race as she felt the full weight of what she had decided to do. She felt “truly inspired by her vulnerability and courage”, so chose to explore the idea herself, having been passionate about encouraging positive body image after experiencing an eating disorder in her teens and early twenties. I’d seen a large number of families and individuals of different cultures in the area and was anxious about offending them with exposing my body in the act of freedom that I was about to embark on.
‘All of a sudden I felt one of the pens in my left hand slip out of my grasp.
Advertisement
‘I just burst into tears. “I don’t know who that first person was but I am so thankful for their contribution”, she wrote. “After that first love heart was drawn it felt like others were liberated to follow suit because soon all the pens were leaving my hands at a rapid pace”.
