As part of the year-long project of reinforcing Respect on campus, St. Francis College welcomed Alyscia Cunningham on March 7, 2016 to talk about the importance of Embracing Our Natural Beauty.

(Watch Alyscia on Embracing Natural Beauty)

During this Women's History Month event, Cunningham explored the questions of, What is beauty? and Who determines what it looks like?

She asked, If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, why do only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful? She questioned if men are also anxious about their body image, are we allowing societal factors to determine our value as human beings?

As an author, advocate and photographer Alyscia Cunningham points out the distinctions between the natural beauty each of us has within vs. societal and external measures of beauty and worth. Through her projects Mrs. Cunningham is helping to shift the dynamics of beauty, and how we perceive beauty within ourselves.

The talk was organized by Professor Wendy Galgan and sponsored by the the Women's Center, Women's Studies Minor, American Studies Program, and the English Department.