Events informing students about eating disorders, healthy living and body image range from a musical to a panel discussion at this year’s Body Pride Week at ASU.

The musical “Size Ate,” which premiered on the Tempe campus Tuesday night, tells the story of a woman who struggles with eating disorders like binge eating and anorexia.

Margaux Laskey, the writer and sole performer of the play, said the show will hopefully make eating disorders an easier issue to talk about.

“If I can stand up there and talk about my experience, … perhaps it will help them see that they too can talk about it,” she said.

Laskey said seeing someone like her who struggled with an eating disorder will hopefully give others hope, and family members and friends can become more informed about eating disorders.

“I think the Body Pride Week … isn’t just supposed to make everybody feel better,” Laskey said.

There’s a dark side and uncomfortable feelings that people don’t necessarily want to discuss about eating disorders, she said, but sometimes talking about the feelings helps the healing process begin.

Even students who don’t have an eating disorder might have an unnecessary preoccupation with weight, she said.

“I do sort of feel like diets and dieting are sort of culturally endorsed eating disorders,” Laskey said.

Students should be able to trust their body and instincts, she said, and need to focus on eating only when they’re hungry.

The way weight is portrayed in popular magazines still needs improvement, but students shouldn’t rely on magazines for their well-being, Laskey said.

“Even if inside there’s articles about being happy at your own weight, on the cover of the magazine, the woman is incredibly thin,” she said.

Manju Ramadurai, one of the coordinators of Body Pride Week, said the play and other activities will help students see a more positive message about body image.

“We hope the message that the students will take home from the ‘Size Ate’ musical is to be comfortable with who they are and stop the quest for physical perfection,” Ramadurai said in an e-mail.

The week’s events focus on inner qualities and on encouragement to not judge people on their outer appearances, she said.

“The goal of Body Pride Week is to encourage healthy and normal eating, active living and a positive self-image in the ASU community,” she said.

Douglas Spencer, assistant director of academic services for the School of International Letters and Cultures, is a panelist on eating disorders and the event’s unofficial coordinator.

“We see all these excellently tanned and formed bodies — male and female — and we sometimes are led into the false assumption that there’s nothing else going on,” Spencer said.

There is an issue with gender differences, since women are associated with eating disorders more often than men, and men may suffer silently, he said.

The panel will provide an insight into the issue of eating disorders that is usually kept behind closed doors, he said. It will be held today on the Tempe campus at 5:30 p.m.

Devilpalooza, which runs from 2 to 10 p.m. on Friday, is the final event of Body Pride Week.

“I think Body Pride Week is all about being OK with yourself and being healthy,” said Katherine Vawter, a marketing junior and president of the Programming and Activities Board.

Vawter said the point of Devilpalooza, which was voted ASU’s best annual event last year, is to showcase extreme action sports, ASU sports clubs and feature a concert.

“It’s a way to see the fun side of being healthy,” she said.

Reach the reporter at reweaver@asu.edu