Photoshop Body Image
Everywhere, young girls cherish their playtime with their Barbie doll, well-known for depicting a slim, flawless girl. Yet, “Barbie sends our girls one message and it’s this: ‘you can do anything and you can be anything—[if] you look like this’ (Warhaft-Nadler).”
Today, everyone seems to understand that Barbie’s body is an unrealistic goal. However, walking down the hallways of any school, you can hear girls lamenting that they are “too fat.” But, if they aren’t comparing themselves to Barbie, what are they comparing themselves too? Enter Photoshop, a revolutionizing image editing software, constantly altering our perception of body image.
As a photographer, I fall into the trap of using Photoshop to manipulate photos. Still, across America, from donuts to toothpaste, everyone utilizes Photoshop to create enticing images to sell their products. Yet, these ads sell more than products, and it’s important to recognize the negative effects that these photoshopped images have on women. Of course, one might argue that it’s not the image that effects women, but the model. As the average female fashion model weighs 120 pounds (the average …show more content…
Over hundreds of companies exploit Photoshop to sell their products and modify their models. In Jean Kilbourne’s TedTalk, she states that “women’s bodies are dismembered in [these] ads [and] hacked apart.” An image you see on the cover of Teen Vogue is normally multiple females, chopped up and pasted to make one “perfect” woman. Additionally, even famous celebrities utilize Photoshop to refine their images. For example, Kim Kardashian, as unedited photos of Kim surfaced on the internet, her fans praised her au natural look. However, a notable critic, Pier Morgan, shamed Kim, as “flaws should not be celebrated.” If Kim Kardashian can’t have stretch marks or even a pimple, what does that mean for the rest of the female
Today, everyone seems to understand that Barbie’s body is an unrealistic goal. However, walking down the hallways of any school, you can hear girls lamenting that they are “too fat.” But, if they aren’t comparing themselves to Barbie, what are they comparing themselves too? Enter Photoshop, a revolutionizing image editing software, constantly altering our perception of body image.
As a photographer, I fall into the trap of using Photoshop to manipulate photos. Still, across America, from donuts to toothpaste, everyone utilizes Photoshop to create enticing images to sell their products. Yet, these ads sell more than products, and it’s important to recognize the negative effects that these photoshopped images have on women. Of course, one might argue that it’s not the image that effects women, but the model. As the average female fashion model weighs 120 pounds (the average …show more content…
Over hundreds of companies exploit Photoshop to sell their products and modify their models. In Jean Kilbourne’s TedTalk, she states that “women’s bodies are dismembered in [these] ads [and] hacked apart.” An image you see on the cover of Teen Vogue is normally multiple females, chopped up and pasted to make one “perfect” woman. Additionally, even famous celebrities utilize Photoshop to refine their images. For example, Kim Kardashian, as unedited photos of Kim surfaced on the internet, her fans praised her au natural look. However, a notable critic, Pier Morgan, shamed Kim, as “flaws should not be celebrated.” If Kim Kardashian can’t have stretch marks or even a pimple, what does that mean for the rest of the female