I hang out on a lot of different boards...some of them are a bit unusual. However, one of them had a post recently that I think will make everyone feel a little better.
Since the media is progressively demanding women to be ever thinner (unrealistically so) -- this type of brainwashing is very destructive to people who are attempting to lose weight. In fact, I would bet anything that most people with weight problems find themselves getting more depressed (and eating more in a never ending cycle of self-destruction) every time they feel they can't measure up to some magazine ad or women in movies.
Now we all know photography can be airbrushed. But although we know it -- I doubt most people are aware to what extent such things are done.
The URL for the site I'm about to post has before and after photos. Be patient...it loads slowly. Run your mouse over the "perfect" woman -- and you'll see how much this photo has been tinkered with -- that will give you a good idea of what's possible and why "stars" always look so much better than the rest of humanity.
Now granted, this woman is thin to begin with -- still her hip line was substantially reduced for publication, her bust has been increased, her arms thinned out and a whole bevy of improvements. The fellow who put up this site (BLESS HIS SOUL) apparently works in advertising. And he felt the need to display his touch up talents. The photos off to the side -- if you click on them, they get larger -- then roll your mouse over the "perfect" photo to see the original.
Anyhow, I thought getting a look at how the media manipulates women into feeling bad about themselves might be good for us all. It will help us to view ourselves more kindly.
We are real women. We are not airbrushed. We know we need to lose weight but we do not need to drive ourselves crazy attempting to achieve something that isn't "real".
I hope these photos "make your day" as they did mine.
Here's the URL I found on another site....isn't it something?
Remember last year when Jamie Lee Curtis had REAL photos done for a magazine shoot? I have so much respect and appreciation for her as a woman for doing this for the rest of us!
Ok, just went to the link. That's amazing, really makes you think!
You know what's funny? It's that in the original photos, the woman may look older and more natural, but she is beautiful just the same. Where women, especially the young, are being done a disservice is being bombarded by these airbrushed fictional icons of idealized/stylized, pefect but nonexistent females. So we are more and more driven to try to reach this perfection, even if it doesn't exist, and we are harming ourselves and falling prey to distorted thinking in the process.
Just look at some of the emaciated TV and movie stars of a few years back ... starving themselves and being lauded for it in mags and tabloids where their sad little bodies were presented as the height of fashion.
Just look at the size zero clothing we see in the stores ... honestly, I ask you, how is it possible to be a size zero? Strictly speaking, a size zero would not take up any space in the physical world, therefore size zero people strictly speaking don't exist at all.
Thank you Rainbowmyst, I sent this to all my girlfriends.
I think it was just a few months ago that Kate Winslet pitched a fit over photos taken of her for a cover of some gentleman's magazine. They were so retouched that she didn't recognize herself and demanded that they be fixed. Don't know if they ever were though....
Thanks for sharing the site - very reassuring for us NORMAL women!
Just wanted to say, that was a real eye opener. And I plan on sending it to some friends who "obsess" over their looks and body weight. Thanks for sharing that.
ohmygod!!! That is soooo unbelievable...Those alterations made a huge difference...We get so used to looking at the "airbrushed babes" I think we forget that what we are seeing is not reality..
Thanks for sharing.
To Give Us All A Lift!!!
Hmmm, no wonder
