Endangered Bodies Ireland recognised that January can be a hard time for body acceptance so we decided to put aside a little time and space to get together and focus on body acceptance and challenge the toxic culture of body hatred. A Speak Out is a gathering of people in a safe environment, where they are able to raise their voice to articulate their experiences of a situation, and, equally importantly, listen to the voices of others.

Endangered Bodies Ireland hits the streets for Pride Parade on the 29th June. It was great to see so much diversity on the streets on Dublin and we were delighted to be out there spreading positive body image.

Endangered Bodies Ireland celebrated International No Diet Day with a public celebration in Dublin’s streets. We wore t-shirts and carried speech bubbles with body-positive messages. We handed out information about intuitive eating and invited people to have a guilt-free treat. More info here.

FemSoc NUIG invited Endangered Bodies Ireland to contribute to the launch of their ‘Glorious Freaks’ art exhibition to celebrate International Women’s Day. Emma Fitzgerald travelled to Galway to represent Endangered Bodies.

Following incidents of weight-related stigma and bullying on RTE's TV series 'Operation Transformation', Endangered Bodies Ireland petitioned RTE and sponsors of the programme to reconsider the emphasis on weight loss and to focus instead on some of the other physical, social and emotional benefits associated with balanced diet and increased physical activity. See the petition here. 

Endangered Bodies Ireland hosted a series of ‘You at Peace’ (YAP) discussion groups to provide women with a safe, confidential space to discuss the issues that impact on the way they feel about their bodies. 

By joining together to discuss our feelings and experiences, we can better understand and articulate the wider issues that influence the way we feel about our bodies. By giving ourselves permission to use our voices we can arm ourselves for activism in our own lives.

The Flora Women’s Mini-Marathon is a fantastic event. Thousands of women from all over the country gather together to walk or run 10k and raise funds for deserving charities. In order to take part in the event, women pick up their race number and entry pack at the Woman’s World event  - ‘the largest female exhibition event in Ireland’. The exhibition features a huge number of products focussed on weight loss so Endangered Bodies Ireland went along to hand out body positive messages to remind women that the event is about much more than that.

Endangered Bodies Ireland hosted an information night for people to come along and find out about the work the Endangered Bodies is doing in sites around the world.

Endangered Bodies Ireland took part in a panel discussion about the documentary Miss Representation. The documentary explores the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence in America, and challenges the media's limited portrayal of what it means to be a powerful woman. The screening was organized by the Irish Feminist Network.

The Endangered Bodies Ireland Facebook page was born and founder Deirdre Cowman reached out to other body image activists in Ireland to start an Endangered Bodies Ireland committee.

Deirdre got involved with body image activism as an Any-Body intern. She attended the Endangered Species Summit in London and spoke about the work being in done in Ireland to promote positive body image and challenge the culture of body hatred. Listen to a podcast of Deirdre’s presentation here.