The media sell beauty, and some Penn State students said they aren't buying it.

On Tuesday, several students and a panel of four Penn State professors addressed a crowd of about 115 students gathered in the HUB Auditorium about how the media influence standards of beauty.

The event opened with three short skits.

Those skits discussed topics such as tanning, anorexia and compulsive exercising.

All of the skits were written, produced and performed by students in Women's Studies 001 (Introduction to Women's Studies).

In one of the skits, Diane Kadushin (sophomore-public relations and theatre) portrayed the alleged struggles Penn State female students face with body image.

"I'm like Anna Nicole Smith pre-Trim Spa," she said. "My T-zone hates me, it has more oil than the Middle East."

Kadushin, also one of the scriptwriters, said the point of the skits was to demonstrate how the stereotype of beauty is unfair.

"It's silly; it doesn't fit everyone," she said.

Kim Veirs (sophomore-communications and marine science), who attended the event for a class assignment, said she was expecting the panelists to discuss body perceptions.

"The media is constantly telling everyone that they are supposed to be a stick," Veirs said before the panel began.

Body image was a major point of discussion for the panel.

Stephanie Shields, professor of psychology and women's studies, used comic strip examples such as Cathy and For Better or For Worse to convey her message.

"We have to be careful with how we talk to our roommates, to our nieces, to our mothers," Shields said. "We could be inadvertently conveying negative images."

Elisha T. Clark, another panelist and head of the dance minor, pointed out Americans' alleged obsession with beauty.

"We live in a culture where there is so much emphasis on beauty Ã~ especially youthful beauty," Clark said. "It has become the American dream."

Charles Dumas, an associate theatre professor and the only male panelist, reached out to male students in the audience.

"I have seen the pressure put more and more on young men to look like hotties, to look like hunks," he said. "It's not just women; it's more and more men."

Doug Weaver (sophomore-animal bioscience) said he felt the presentation was directed toward female viewers.

"As a guy, I didn't feel it related to me all that much," he said.

The Standards of Beauty Symposium was sponsored by University Health Services and the Laura R. Whitaker Fund.

Mallorie McCue, the event's organizer, said she wanted to encourage attendees to expand the current standards of beauty.

"Last year, when I came, it truly changed my life," McCue said. "That's why I organized it this year."