Growing up, Jenni Schaefer's favorite toy was Great Shape Barbie because it was obsessed with working out and always donned a tight leotard.
Schaefer said she fought and fought to look like Great Shape Barbie because she thought she needed to look like it, a mentality that eventually led to anorexia and bulimia.
Mothers, daughters and college students gathered on Wednesday night in the HUB Auditorium as University Health Services (UHS) and the Panhellenic Council (PHC) co-sponsored a presentation by Schaefer.
The 32-year-old singer, author, consultant and speaker said her first encounter with her eating disorder, which she nicknamed "Ed," began at age four. Schaefer showed the audience her yellow ballet costume in which she first began her struggle.
Eating disorders aren't about food or weight, Schaefer explained, it's about control. In high school and college, she told the audience she remembers being an "unrelenting perfectionist" and soon realized she couldn't be perfect at everything, but the one she could control was food.
"We can control what goes in our body and what we eat," she said. "Part of my recovery was battling perfectionism."
It was after she graduated college and moved to Nashville, Tenn., where she lives today, that Schaefer hit rock bottom, she said.
She finally sought treatment at the age of 22 and today considers herself fully recovered.
Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness, Schaefer said. However, this statistic did not become real to her until she lost a close friend in March from anorexia, she said.
"Eating disorders can be prevented," she said. "I want people to know that eating disorders are real illnesses, real diseases. They're not just a fad or a phase."
Cara Thomas (sophomore-nutrition) said she got the information about the event from a listserv email, but attended because she struggled with an eating disorder.
"This is a really prevalent topic on a college campus," Thomas said.
The Laura R. Whitaker Fund, which concentrates on the area of eating disorders and depression, provided funding for the event, said Seldon Whitaker, former State College superintendent of schools.
"The fund was started in memory of our daughter who was a student at Penn State and had eating disorders complicated by depression," Whitaker said. "She took her own life in her senior year of college in 1994."
It's important to hold an event like this at Penn State because eating disorders and depression continue to be significant issues for many college students, he added.
The PHC required ten members from each sorority chapter to attend the event, said Leah Donnenberg, PHC vice president for programming.
"It's important for all women to attend an event like this, especially for our age demographic," Donnenberg said. "You never know who you're going to affect with a presentation like this, it could be one person, it could be 100 people."
UHS was excited to partner with the PHC for this event, said Linda LaSalle, UHS associate director of educational services.
"We've had a longstanding collaboration with them on this issue," she said. "Hopefully the event increased awareness of eating disorders and made people realize recovery is very possible."
