Pamela Sepulveda, community outreach director of Casa Youth, and Re-enrty Specialist Shannon Estrada presented a workshop on body image and the issues of body image on Sept. 26.
Those who attended the workshop learned the role body image plays in one’s life, the dangers of poor body image and the power of media and social pressure.
Sepulveda started off her introduction with a PowerPoint presentation discussing the difference between woman and men’s body image, and how it has changed over the years.
“If you have a positive body image it means the way you see yourself is accurate but it brings your positive qualities, having positive body image means you are comfortable with the angles your body creates,” said Sepulveda.
She asserted that women get bashed more than men when it comes to body image.
Then Sepulveda asked the students how do most women describe themselves.
Students mentioned “They want boobs, a smaller waist, a bigger butt, an hourglass figure.”
Sepulveda described that mens’ body images has been changing throughout the years and men now get surgery to live up to the standards of society in comparison to 30 years ago when this wasn’t an average procedure for them to do.
Sepulveda said to say “thank you” to anyone who complements you, and added that she had a hard time accepting compliments due to her trouble with acne throughout her teen years.
She then compared the difference between real life woman and a barbie and said the head is bigger than a normal human being, the neck is too long, and the waist is too small, which she described as “something that’s not achievable in real life” and “if barbie were real, she would be a walking lollipop.”
Sepulveda showed a video of the process of Photohopping a model’s pictures where her eyes were enhanced, her back was made longer, shoulders were made smaller, she had bigger hair, made to have a smaller nose, had lighter skin and plumper lips.
She discussed how celebrities need to maintain their image so they have their stylists, makeup artists, fitness trainers, photographers and surgeons to make them look perfect everyday and that many people look up to them and compare themselves.
Karla Huron, a criminal justice major, said “I attended the workshop to learn more about body image and learn to love myself, my body.”
She mentioned the workshop was helpful and learned that everyone thinks they have flaws and shouldn’t judge how they look because everyone is beautiful in their own way.
“There is no way you are able to maintain an image like Kim Kardashian; your job is to be a student, work, be a parent, etc.,” said Sepulveda.
She also mentioned that people will create an unhealthy lifestyle mentally and physically with the pressure of body image such as depression, anxiety, anorexia nervosa, bulimia and dysmorphic disorder.
Karina Loza, an architecture major, said “I, like a lot of other girls, suffer from body image issues because we see people in the media and the way we’re bombarded all the time with the perfect body image; and honestly I don’t think anybody looks like that.”
She said the workshop helped her look at herself in a better way, ignoring the flaws she thinks she has,and learning to love herself.
Six students attended the workshop.
Sepulveda wasn’t pleased with the student turnout saying, “The six students that were here, were amazing and engaged and I think we’ve had workshops that had more students. I was disappointed more didn’t come,” Sepulveda said.
Estrada said she decided to do this workshop because it’s a big issue that many have dealt with some point in their life, including herself and she wanted to promote these issues and resources to students that are dealing with body image problems.
