Monday, September 8th, 2008

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Laura and Jennifer Berman, doctors at the UCLA Female Sexual Medicine Center, interview first-year UCLA student Erica Membreno.

Laura and Jennifer Berman, doctors at the UCLA Female Sexual Medicine Center, interview first-year UCLA student Erica Membreno.

‘The naked truth’ about body image

On Monday night, the Discovery Channel taped the 65th episode of “Berman and Berman” in front of Royce Hall, with a student audience and the topic, “The Naked Truth.”

The hosts were the co-founders of the UCLA Female Sexual Medicine Center, doctors Jennifer and Laura Berman (yes, they’re sisters). Throughout the evening, the doctors were accompanied by guest speakers ranging from UCLA professors and students to Hollywood actresses and UCLA alumna Laurie Holden (“The Majestic”) to the UCLA spirit squad.

The discussion centered on body image, and the audience listened to experts and students discuss eating disorders, self-confidence, dietary advice and social tendencies.

According to Steve Lange, producer and conceptual writer of the show, “Berman and Berman” deals with the questions, “How much do looks matter?” And, “If you looked a certain way, will that affect the way people respond to you?”

For this episode, the show took a theater student and placed her on the corner of Le Conte and Westwood, and observed the way people reacted to her handing out a survey while wearing two different outfits. She was recorded by a hidden camera across the street.

Theater student Alexis Maron took on the experiment after she heard about the opportunity on the first day of school.

Standing on the street corner, Maron passed out surveys to pedestrians. While wearing a T-shirt, jeans and a backwards baseball cap, Maron got few volunteers to take the survey, and most of the ones that did were women. However, while wearing a mini skirt and low-cut top with a padded bra, Maron not only easily received male volunteers who tried to flirt with her, she also got plenty of attention from people just passing by. Interestingly enough, the ones that wouldn’t volunteer to take the survey were women.

“It’s sad that’s how predictable humanity is, because that was what we pretty much predicted would happen,” Maron said. “Dress sexy and you’ll get more attention.”

The experiment was discussed with professional psychologists, and this fact was backed up with evidence compiled by a British research company that investigated the question of attractiveness. The company’s conclusion was that attractive kids are more popular, attractive applicants get more jobs, and attractive people are more often found not guilty in court.

The show also followed first-year student Erica Membreno through her first few weeks of school as she confronted the pressures and myths that accompany starting college. In fact, the myth of the “Freshman 15” (gaining 15 pounds during the first year of college, which, in reality, is only an average gain of 4.6 pounds) was dispelled by an expert nutritionist on the show.

“People fall into the pressures of eating disorders,” Membreno said. “When you watch TV and look at magazines everybody is a size 2 and that is not what real life is.”

“The theme of the show is the importance in body image and your need to be comfortable with yourself. There is no size 2,” Lange said. “The media puts out false images, and if I knew this stuff in college, I would have been much more successful.”

The show displayed a wide range of opinions without the rhetoric of trying to stop social superficiality. Instead, the show made the case that looks do matter and that it is more important to be comfortable with yourself, to keep your body healthy and to avoid damage to your body caused by dangerous diets and malnutrition.

“The Naked Truth” will air on the Discovery Channel Jan 17th.