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Images of Women in the Media: The Scary Power of Photoshop

Fri, 02/18/2011 - 14:27
Submitted by LilithLand

As Copyranter points out, the following commercial for a photo retouching agency is very sexist and makes fun of those of us who are dentally challenged with a little more junk in our trunk i.e., the average American. However, the ad does make a positive point regarding the awesome power of Photoshop.

The mass media constantly surrounds us with digitally altered images of women that are flawless to the extreme. And we eat them up. It ain't real folks. It's time we stopped buying into this bullshit.

If you think Kim Kardashian looks that perfect in real life, you are seriously deluded. Even someone as young and gorgeous as she is still subjected to the retoucher's art - as these photos aptly demonstrate. In the one on the right, her skin has been lightened and smoothed, her waist and thighs whittled down, and her body streamlined so there's no hint of cottage cheese (cellulite).

The young girls who grow up exposed to this crap come away with a very distorted view of female beauty, which impacts how they view themselves. Simply put, we are breeding female self-hatred with every click of the mouse. I don't know why we can't leave somethings untouched and show more diverse images of beauty. I think Kim is just as gorgeous in the photo on the left. By the way, if the think this commercial is far-fetched, you are wrong. I have Photoshop on my computer, and truly it can make the Incredible Hulk look like Angelina Jolie.

Women, Sex, Culture & Relationships
http://www.lilithland.net/

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Artists and portrait painters

Fri, 02/18/2011 - 20:31
Jake E

Artists and portrait painters have been doing the photoshop thing for centuries. It's up to us as artists or viewers to be honest about what we think is hot and express that in our work.  That's one reason why the ad is dumb. There are porn sites that feature people who look like the "model" in the ad who sexually inspire people to orgasm. You can't get much hotter than that. 
In the pic, her skin looks better on the right because our brains even out skin tones we see with our eyes, and her body looks better on the left untouched.

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