Lovelyish

Photoshop does not give women body issues. Women give women body issues by believing they have to look like some idealized body type because of a picture or other women they see in real life. Of course young girls can feel bad about themselves if they hold themselves to unrealistic standards. One thing my mom did do right was tell me how fake magazines photos are and that no one measures up to the standard of beauty. Young women need role models in their life that aren’t celebrities. Especially not celebrities that have marginal talent and are only known for being a “powerful” female beauty.

Moreover, advertising sells a fantasy. Magazines are geared to sell or uphold a fantasy or sell/uphold some kind of ideology (feminist magazines). Neither are reflective of the reality in which we live. After a certain age, we are supposed to stop believing in fairy tales. These pictures are modern day fairy tales.

Finally, when are we going to stop picking apart the bodies of female celebrities just to point out how not perfect they are? It’s contradictory. We can’t demand respect for our bodies and request that we not be objectified and then turn around and do the same thing to someone else just because she is supposed to be ideal.

kay..end rant.

I never thought there was ever a “perfect” image of what a woman should be, and these celebrities, like us, are just mere mortals.  I am not surprised to see how different they really look in real life, but I didn’t think any of the “real life” pics of the women are particularly bad.  I think all the excessive photoshopping leads folks to believe unrealistic things about others.  Sure some of them don’t have boobs as perky as in the fixed up pics, or that they have cellulite, so what?!?!  There are so many tricks photographers, makeup artists and stylists use to make people look better in pictures–such as illusions (highlight/contouring makeup, posing a certain way), clothing that flatters a person’s best assets and then the digital “corrections” made after the pictures have been taken.  As long as we know that these pictures have been altered and we remain realistic about how others look, I am okay with minor adjustments made to the photos to remove things like unsightly spider veins, pimples/blemishes, color corrections and such.  I am not a fan of the photos in which the models had their size changed drastically: including but not limited to: bust size, waist, butt/hips, legs, etc.

I do not think American Apparel Ads are the epitome of what women should look like sorry. They often pick very young girls, versus women. Very young girls don’t have cellulite, baby stretch marks, or anything else. Not only that but the only thing they seem to get across in those ads is “sex”.

It’s so sad that after all these years… Nothing has changed regarding this issue. When will people learn to deal with reality?

Photoshopping also gives some men unrealistic expectations of how women should look. Many years ago I watched a video on the topic, in which they had a few young men talk about what they liked about certain photos of women. “No cellulite” often came up. Then they had a photo editor comment about what was enhanced and show before and after pictures. The guys had different reactions. One was in denial. Another commented that seeing all that editing takes away beauty from the girls that you see on the street.

I just hope that increased awareness of this helps people not have unrealistic ideals of how people should look.

Are you sure that’s Alicia Keys in the photoshopped version of her? That face looks NOTHING like her. At all. If that is her, they really DID do a great job photoshopping her. o.O

@naughty_virgin@xanga - Well said!

Wow, I’m surprised… I knew photos in magazines were photoshopped but jeez louise I thought celebs were thin and had perfect bodies because they worked out so much. Didn’t realize that it was ALL photoshopped haha. Hm, are porn stars photoshopped then?

This is no better than the photoshopped pictures. Shaming celebrities for having celulite and saggy skin and, oh I dunno, NORMAL BODIES. You think the tabloid pictures are ‘real’ pictures as well, and that they don’t add wrinkles and dimples and splotchy patches etc. etc. It’s all ridiculous.

I have no problem with photoshop. They are selling something that the people want. Men and women alike want to see perfect bodies of both sexes. You can tell that they want this because, ahem, they buy it in huge amounts. It is not wrong for magazine editors to put out a product that people like and want to buy.
What we take away from the beautiful images is entirely up to us.

Gosh, I can’t remember the last time I saw a 1989 Ford Tempo pull into the local body shop for a full body off restoration because it saw a pic of the new Corvette in a magazine ad.

It’s not the photographers. It’s not the editors. It’s not even the models that starve themselves to be wafer thin. It’s not even the photoshop. It’s us. It’s people. It’s people that buy into the lies.

Everyone knows these pics are edited. Even those “victimized” teen girls that try to live up to that impossible ideal. They aren’t being fooled. They’re willingly playing along because they want to be wanted, and they think that how they look matters more than who they are as a person. Perhaps that’s even true. But THAT is the problem. Not photoshop.

Want to actually change something? Stop bitching about magazine ads, and start being less vain as a society.

And yeah, I second what  @Erika_Steele@xanga - said:

“…picking apart the bodies of female celebrities just to point out how not perfect they are? It’s contradictory. We can’t demand respect for our bodies and request that we not be objectified and then turn around and do the same thing to someone else just because she is supposed to be ideal.”

Derp

(this cranial colonoscopy performed free of charge by The Doug. Board certified cranial colonoscopist.)

P.S. now, to justify my presence on Lovelyish, I’m going to do what I originally came here to do… Ogle the pics of hot chicks up there.

hubba, hubba

This post made me sad. We (women) are so mean! I do not feel good about making fun of women with cellulite. Mkay. 

Why do people always forget that visual media has been providing imagery of flawless of near flawless women since way way way way way before the rise of of photoshop? 

Like you said, we all know photos in magazines are super photo shopped. But it makes me feel so much better seeing the magazine version and the real life version side-by-side. Thank you for this! 

Yeah, yeah, “No one can make you feel bad without your permission,” but as a person with a graduate degree in a mental health field, I can say with absolute certainty that that statement is not 100% true. So, THANK YOU again for this! 

i’m okay with photoshop for taking out blemishes, zits, scars that still shows up through makeup. but for altering body shapes, well that’s what clothes are for

Thing is. Look, I personally dislike the treatment we get by others. One who looks hot does not get treated the same as someone considered ugly. Anyway, for me, this is a good post. I know the pictures get photoshopped but there are some pictures that take it to the extreme. •_• And for me, seeing the way someone pretty gets treated is sort of the reason I want to look that way. It’s how this world rolls, I can try to get away but it works that way. You know? If you are cute, men treat you better. It’s just how it is. So you can rationalise and talk and blah. Truth is, you are ugly, life is tougher. End of story. 

Ha it’s terrible but some these women’s frumpy pics still look good..

Who plays tennis in high heels?

Salena Gomez: Still gorgeous! everyone has rolls when they arent sitting straight, fuck, i do =]

we know the people in the magazine ads aren’t real, but I think most of us know why they aren’t real, and question why they still think it’s okay to modify everything. advertisers know that if we like what we see in their ads, then some of us are gonna think we can look like those people, or be happy like them, have their fame, etc. if we buy the products they’re endorsing. it’s false advertising and a false sense of reality. 

I guess I see it the opposite way. Photographers, editors, stylists, etc. are very good at making the human body look good, through angles, lighting, photoshop, etc. That doesn’t make me feel bad about my body. I think it goes to prove that they can make any body look sellable through camera tricks. And, that sort of makes me feel better. Like the times when, just posing in front of the mirror, I’ve turned my thigh juuuuuuust right, or stood at just the right angle, and bam! The chub and the cellulite smoothed itself out, and I just thought, damn.