Is Photoshop destroying our perception of natural beauty?
I think it is and here’s why…
A while ago I came across a series of photos on a website which showed celebrities before and after Photoshop. I have to admit that I was completely shocked by the differences in some of the pictures. Although I knew that the majority of images that are displayed in the media have been doctored in some way, I was completely unaware of the extent to which this happens.
Maybe I was just naïve, but in my mind Photoshop simply eased out wrinkles, improved skin tone and enhanced certain assets. Upon doing more digging and coming across websites such as Beauty Redefined, I learnt that Photoshop does much more than ironing out a few creases. This video perhaps explains that better than I could. Limbs are lengthened, thigh gaps are created and bodies are slimmed down. Personal features are ‘amended’ to fit with what is perceived to be beautiful. The overall effect is often vastly different from the original.
To discover just how much of what we see across advertising and in the media is simply fantasy shocked me. To begin with this discovery was actually quite comforting because, like thousands of other women, I have grown up comparing myself to what I see in the media.
There are things about my own body that I have disliked for years, I could rhyme you off a list if you asked me to. Maybe you will call me mean, but I did take comfort in the fact that even the great Megan Fox has acne scars on her face. To see the likes of Mischa Barton with cellulite on her legs, Lauren Conrad with saggy knees, or even Kesha without a thigh gap made me feel much more normal — because it is normal. Photoshop allows advertisers and glossy magazines to portray a level of perfection, or ‘beauty’, which simply isn’t achievable — by anybody.
I should point out that I am not an overly body conscious person, I am as body conscious as every other woman I know, and I was shocked to admit to myself just how much of my own self-esteem issues, no matter how small, rest on the manipulated images portrayed in the media.
The more I look into the Photoshopped images used in advertising and in glossy magazines, the more annoyed I become. I have spent years overanalysing myself and comparing my own body to something that isn’t real. More annoying than that, generations of girls have done exactly the same and will continue to do so for as long as this trend continues.
In my opinion all Photoshopped images should be labelled as such. Advertisers and magazines who manipulate images of real women should be called out for doing so. We have now come to a point that images are so distorted that they are completely fake and unattainable for any normal person. This is damaging for women, and, in particular, young girls who are more exposed to these images than anyone in my generation ever was.
Earlier this year ‘The Truth in Advertising Act of 2014’, dubbed the ‘Anti-Photoshop Act”, was introduced in the U.S. The bill, if passed, will give the Federal Trade Commission power to regulate the use of Photoshop editing software in advertising and other media, cutting down on unrealistic images. This is hopefully the start of a positive change or at least raised awareness of this issue.
You may argue that the use of Photoshopped images isn’t a big deal, but I beg to differ. Generations of people are measuring themselves against unrealistic ideals, this is not only damaging for one’s self-esteem, but the saturation of these images across the media has the power to adjust a whole society’s perception of what is normal and what it means to be beautiful. This is incredibly damaging and has the ability to alter what it is we actually value and what our expectations of ourselves and others should be.
Do you agree with me?
Comment on this story or tweet me at @rachanndennison
