Dr. Tony Paulson presents reasons behind negative body image and ways to improve.

As part of “Love Your Body” week, Dr. Tony Paulson gave a presentation titled “Making Peace With Your Body,” in The WELL at Sacramento State. Paulson graduated from Sac State; he is a professor in the Family & Consumer Science department and has worked in treating eating disorders for 25 years.

Early in his presentation, Paulson showed images of Disney princesses like Ariel and Snow White to demonstrate that from an early age girls are encouraged to live up to these images; thin women who display what society considers to be beautiful.

“The thin ideal is the culprit of negative body image,” said Paulson. “We’re creating more body image [issues] because we are hyper focused on weight.”

He used media examples as well as ones from his personal life to explain how negative body images are circulated and effect how children, especially young girls, perceive themselves and their value in the world.

“On average, a girl will gain 18 pounds during puberty,” said Paulson.

Paulson explained over half of girls around age 10 want to weigh less. He said the main reason for this is the bombardment of images young girls see through the media which equate beauty with thinness.

“The key is you’re not okay the way you are,” said Paulson, when he was discussing why advertisements for beauty products are so successful.

He said the advertisers or salespeople identify a flaw within the consumer, then try to sell that person a product that would cover up whatever flaw has been identified by the advertisement.

He also spoke on the topic of having children and how this society does not praise being a mother as much as it should.

“We even take that away from them,” said Paulson, referring to the societal pressure to get back to their pre-baby body.

During his presentation, Paulson encouraged questions and comments from the audience.

Kelly Fox is one of the many who spoke during the presentation on why she believes society has an impact on how people feel about their bodies.

“We have all these apps to make you look better,” said Fox.

After the presentation, many members of the audience seemed upbeat and stayed to continue the discussion about body image and related issues.

Kirsten Reiber, who commented several times during the presentation, also spoke afterwards about how she felt.

“It was really amazing because I struggle with body image,” said Reiber. “When it started, I was feeling really insecure, but [after] he started [speaking], it made me feel really good about myself.”

Shabrina Buksh, another audience member, also had a positive opinion on the presentation.

“I really liked it because last semester I did a project on body image and it reminded me how the media [portrays] that overweight is looked at as a bad thing,” said Buksh. “Beautiful doesn’t mean being thin, [it means] being comfortable in your own skin.”

Paulson ended his presentation by giving suggestions of steps people can take to fuel change on how women are perceived. He suggested not buying beauty magazines, positive self-talk and freeing up time spent on makeup and crafting the image of beauty.

“The only thing I ask is ‘do something,’” said Paulson.