“Growing up with Disney” was certainly the shocking section of the Thursday evening presentation on how media affects self-image held in Rosa Parks room D and presented by the Koinonia group, a Christian fellowship group.

Showing a short clip on Disney characters, such as "The Little Mermaid", "Pocahontas", and "Bambi", Ng said that Disney’s productions shape kid’s images of gender with its characters.

“Values can be portrayed from what we see,” said Ng.

The gathering of about 20 women was part of the many activities and presentations that the Koinonia group at SF State prepared for the community in the campus.

“We like important topics that interest people, and engage them to know more about it,” said Nancy Kim, 26, also member of the Kiononia group.

Going from Disney, to Discovery Channel programs and advertisements, Alison Ng, 28, who facilitated the presentation, said that media affects everyone, including kids.

The issue Ng raised was that advertising is in all forms of media, affecting the mind, behavior and body image.

The physical perfection portrayed by models makes women at early age feel a sentiment of constant dissatisfaction, leaving them thinking that they do not measure up to the ideal. This issue leads to further consequences, such as, fad diets, eating disorders or cosmetic surgery, according to Ng.

According to the statistics given on the presentation, fad diets don’t work to meet perfect image, it might cause anorexia or bulimia. These two eating disorders are commonly present in college-aged women affecting a 5 percent of young women with anorexia and a 4 percent with bulimia.

According to the presentation, this trend affects women particularly because they are, in most cases, presented as mindless objects or images.

“Become part of the community with role models,” said Ng, finishing the presentation with images of successful and notable women like Condoleezza Rice, Rigoberta Menchu, and Mother Teresa.

After the presentation, guests had the opportunity to give feedback about the presentation, and some guests came up with suggestions and comments on the issue.

“I came because I wanted to know more about the topic,” said Khatera Kakar, 23, an international relations major.

But Kakar also suggested that topics like these should be presented to younger kids who are growing up with the trend.

“For most of us, we found our way,” said Kakar.