When Trish Caddy first considered shaving her head, she wanted to do something daring. She never imagined her stab at shaking off her “normal” image would be the catalyst for a project that in only a few months time will leave her and 11 other women standing naked in front of a camera, ready to become poster models for cancer awareness.

Caddy’s mom challenged her to make her drastic change count, and that’s when Caddy decided: get more drastic. Thus was born the Babes Go Bare For Cancer fundraising initiative, a soon-to-be calendar of 12 diverse “babes” showing nothing but their skin and shaving their heads to raise money for the B.C. Cancer Agency.

“I first wanted to shave my head to see how people would react to me — would people still treat me like Trish?” said Caddy, a fourth-year biology student at UVic. “Then it got me thinking: women should be able to look and talk about their bodies without it being taboo, and without fearing rejection. ‘Body’ isn’t just who we are, and neither is beauty. It’s a choice you make. It’s how you live your life.”

Caddy came up with the idea for the calendar due to her job as a women’s sexual assault support worker.

“You see all types of women, some in the darkest day of their life, but the one thing they have in common is that they all have the guts to seek help,” Caddy said. “I wish all women loved themselves that much.”

Caddy decided that if she could start by convincing 12 women to have the guts to bare it all and shave their heads to battle society’s image of beauty, that could be a huge statement — a statement she wanted to make for the B.C. Cancer Agency.

Luring the bait

When Caddy was younger, her grandmother had a double mastectomy. Yet, Caddy notes that her grandmother’s attitude made an often-devastating disease into little more than a blip for the family.

“My grandmother was very cut-and-dried about [getting cancer] and making the choice to have a mastectomy,” said Caddy. “She was powerful about it.”

Caddy feels fortunate that she hasn’t lost anyone to the disease personally, but also notes that it should never have to come to that point to make a person care.

“Cancer is a disease where the body turns against itself,” she said. “We don’t need to turn against ourselves, too.”

Caddy’s goal is to raise $25,000 from the calendar proceeds; a feat that will allow her to use the cancer agency logos. The biggest challenge so far had been getting a photographer to do the calendar on a “pro-bono” basis, Caddy says, until a friend was able to connect her with Byron Fry, a local photographer who agreed to do the shoot. Now, it’s finding a print shop willing to print the calendars for free.

Caddy, who graduates in December and hopes to go on to study medicine, emphasizes that the goal of the calendar is not to promote sexiness, but to show women being comfortable with their own bodies and powerful in their skin — no matter the shape. She doesn’t expect the photos to be steamy black-and-whites, but fun, edgy, super-heroic representations of everyday women. Caddy views the calendar as a “bait and switch” — lure viewers in, then tip over their expectations.

“There are people out there who don’t fit the ‘status quo’ of beauty, but these are the gorgeous people in the world, because of how they carry themselves,” Caddy said. “These are the people who inspire you, and who you remember on your own death bed. It’s time we change how society validates beauty.”

Quest for the brave

Caddy will be picking her calendar models over the next few weeks, and is seeking as diverse a group as possible — old, young, transgendered, differently-abled, pregnant, tattooed, athletic and frail. She says the only criteria is tolerance, an open mind and a willingness to love who you are. She’s hoping UVic students and profs will seize this opportunity, but encourages every woman interested in participating to email her. She reiterates that the chosen 12 must be willing to both pose nude and shave their heads — a shave that won’t happen until after the calendar reaches its fundraising goal.

Caddy says she’s surprised by the mix of responses she’s received so far.

“Many women are excited to strip for the calendar, something that could be permanent in history, but most don’t want to part with their hair, which grows back,” she said. “What’s with the hair, folks?”

Caddy herself will be starring in the calendar, though she has yet to pick a month. What she does hope, is that the calendar will get people talking.

“I want to show 12 different ways a woman can look — and obviously that’s such a tiny cross-section — but, my god, we should know what real bodies look like,” Caddy said. “We shouldn’t have to see ourselves as not measuring up to pictures in magazines. We should be able to take people who do and do not fit into society’s constraints and let these people be proud to be themselves.”

The trouble with ‘babe’

Yet, not everyone agrees with the tactics Caddy is using on her mission. She had her first brush with controversy after she scrawled on a McPherson Library billboard the following message: “12 real babes, one nude calendar. Babes Go Bare For Cancer coming to UVic — check us out on Facebook.”

The message was erased by library staff, with a note saying unapproved messages were not to be posted. But two more messages followed from students stating they had a problem with Caddy’s language, urging her to step away from inappropriate terms that cheapened women.

Outreach Communications Co-ordinator for the UVSS Women’s Centre Sinead Charbonneau agrees with this perception, and says that while Caddy’s calendar is a good idea, using the word “babe” isn’t.

“The word ‘babe’ objectifies women as sexualized objects, and can reinforce negative perceptions about image,” Charbonneau said. “If [Caddy] is seeking to create an inclusive calendar, but is using a hetero-normative word, then I would ask, who is she really appealing to? Women who don’t identify with the term babe are left out.”

Caddy understands that some people have a problem with the word, especially with its dictionary definition of “small child,” which, by nature, is not a powerful image. However, Caddy says that women have suffered many of these inaccurate terms and believes the trick is to take back the language.

“The term ‘guy’ actually means ‘a poorly dressed man,’ and ‘dude’ used to define a well-dressed man. Yet these have now become disarmed terms, completely redefined,” said Caddy. “When you take ownership of a word and use it in your own way, you are taking ammunition away from anyone who hopes to hurt you with it. I see the use of the word ‘babe’ as describing anyone who sees themself as beautiful.”

Charbonneau agrees that women who do identify with the term may very well find it powerful, yet she notes that when talking about inclusion and exclusion everyone faces the hurdles of language.

“It’s difficult, because intentions don’t always come through,” Charbonneau said. “You have to ask, does it further or undermine? Language reclamation is an important practice that can bring a lot of unity and strength to a community, but in climates of violence and patriarchy, that becomes less possible. And reclaiming a pejorative word like ‘babe’ can’t necessarily filter down to all women.”

Caddy believes that by smearing the term with new meaning, people do have the power to redefine it. Yet, Charbonneau and Caddy both agree that as long as society views nude images of women as inherently exploitive or sexual, women’s abilities to talk about image and health issues will remain taboo. Caddy emphasizes that nude and lewd are not the same thing, and she hopes the calendar will be something UVic students, especially women, will be thrilled to hang on their walls in 2010.

Bodies are beauty

While the photo shoot will occur later this summer, Caddy hopes to get the calendar on stands by Halloween to target the holiday market. She estimates the price will be somewhere between $10 and $15 (depending on production), with all profits going toward the agency.

Caddy says her parents have been very supportive of what she calls her “guerilla warfare feminism,” though she teases that she would have gone ahead with the project anyway.

Above all else, Caddy says she is trying to build acceptance.

“If you love your body today, even if it’s not in perfect health, then maybe tomorrow you will make a healthier decision for it. Regardless, the idea is to love who you are now, because you are beauty. And you are power.”

To learn more, to get involved, or to submit an application to be in the calendar, email Caddy at babesgobare@gmail.com, or check out the Facebook group.