This is Disturbing on so Many Levels

This past weekend while I was on-line wasting time before the wedding I agreed to photograph I found this web-site.  Please check it out.  It floored me and it might floor you as well.  At the top of the site you'll see a link that says portfolio--click on it.  You should see two rows of images.  All these images are photographs of famous people.  Pick one by clicking on it.  It will enlarge the image.  When you hover your cursor over the image you will be able to see the 'before' version of the image.  To exit the enlarged version click on it then choose another one.  Go ahead.  Look at them all.  Pay close attention to waist size, breast size, thigh size.  Notice the difference in the 'before' images and the 'after' images.  Are you disturbed?

Yes, I'm going to get up on my feminist soap box for a minute because, well, it's my blog and I can rant about whatever I want to rant about.  And I definitely want to rant about this.  Now I knew things like this were happening.  I knew about air brushing and I saw the Dove add that was really popular around the beginning of the year.  I even had a link to it on my own blog.  I'm not naive.  But when I saw the way these images had been altered I couldn't believe it.  We are bombarded by images of what is and is not acceptable to the point that we begin to loath our own bodies.  I know I do.  I just wrote a post about it last week, a post about how a tabloid calling Kelly Clarkson a weight loss loser made me feel like a looser too.  After viewing the altered/enhanced images on this web-site I understood why we as women often feel as if we can't live up to the expectations of society--the very women we're being compared to can't even live up to the images. These are extremely beautiful women and yet their waists are being thinned out, their breasts are being lifted and enlarged, their thighs are being trimmed and rounded, their wrinkles and blemishes are being brushed smooth and all of this is happening to the point where they are pretty much being given new bodies.  Look at the image of Eva Longoria (2nd row, 5th pic).  She's tiny to begin with but look at how much her waist has been trimmed.  Look at how her hip has been rounded to make her look more sexy, more desirable.  Look at the image of Kelly Clarkson (1st row, 3rd image--at least I think it's Kelly Clarkson, she's been changed so much I'm not sure).  In the original image she looks, well, a lot like me.  Natural, full, curvaceous.  But look at the altered image.  They've taken off about 1/3 of her size.    Now I'm a photographer so I know about altering and enhancing images.  I do it to my own photographs.  If I take a photograph and the person in the image has some acne I whip out that spot healing brush.  If I take a photograph of a child and notice a booger hanging off the end of their nose, poof!  It's gone.  I soften and saturate color.  I do a little dodging and burning to the eyes to make them pop.  But what is happening in these images is all together different.  In these images the women are being give different bodies, bodies that are more 'acceptable'.  It makes you realize how unrealistic the images we are being saturated with truly are and how unrealistic the standards can be.

And notice one other thing...and yes, I am ranting.  Sixteen of the twenty images are women.  Only four are men.  And of those four images only one of them has been thinned out.  The other three were touched up to add light and cover the rugged naturalness of the complexion, only minor enhancements.  That can send a definite message--men are okay with only minor changes, women are only okay if they've been given totally new bodies, better bodies, thinner bodies, bodies that aren't realistically feasible even for the thinnest, most toned, most beautiful women in society.

Do you find this as disturbing as I do?  And why do we put up with it?  Why do we buy into it?  Women buy the magazines, the products, the values and ideas images like the ones on this web-site support and promote.  I buy them.  I'm guilty of it.  I have bought into the idea that my body is unacceptable when compared to other women's bodies, especially famous women.  And as long as we can be convinced to keep our focus on the shallow, surface level issues in life--like our size, shape, and weight--we don't have the energy to focus on the important issues, issues like poverty, homelessness, unemployment, education, health care, AIDS and other diseases, genocide, racism, sexism, ageism, and all those other isms.  I have a hard time seeing the important issues when I'm too focused on my low self-esteem. 

As I looked at all these images this past Saturday it was a real wake up call.  Like I said, I knew this was happening.  I wasn't naive.  But to actually see the transformation happening was something else.  The first thing I did after turning off my computer was walk directly into the bathroom, look at myself in the mirror, and apologize to myself for all the abuse I've heaped on myself in an effort to live up to images that aren't real.

Comments

[BryanLucia30]

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[image editing services]

Great post!! Thanks for sharing!!!

[kristen]

I knew but I had no idea and it sickens me. Especially because I like magazines, fashion magazines especially and I feel like by buying these magazines I'm helping to support a way of objectifying women that I disagree with. And I wonder why I hate my naked body so much.

[Sue Mannel]

Amen sister!

xoxo~

Sue

[Heather]

Wow!! that's crazy. They all look so pretty in the before pictures anyway. Man I should walk myself into the bathroom and say sorry too. Thanks for sharing this.

[Marilyn]

I don't remember how I came across it, but I've seen that site...really puts it all into perspective, doesn't it? (Although, depressing as hell to think that even the so-called beautiful aren't beautiful ENOUGH.)

[megg]

You know what I found bizarre? They airbrushed out muscles on the women and ADDED muscle definition on the men. How disgusting is that?!?!

I have passed this link to lots of the women in my life - I hope we can all remember these photos when we start feeling bad about ourselves. There's a wonderful quote by Linda Evangelista:

“I used to look at magazines and I couldn’t afford those clothes and I couldn’t look like those women... And you know what I found out when I became a model? I still couldn’t look like those women, because I am retouched and I’ve had four hours of make-up and two hours of hair and I’m pinned and airbrushed and I’m holding a position that my body could never hold in real life and look natural. So even I could never look like myself."

crazy. thank you for this!!

[Lee]

Thank you!
I knew this went on, but the before and after photos are staggering!
Not long ago a war photo made the news which had been altered to make the image more dramatic!
Photo editing software is a wonderful, powerful tool that has to be used responsibly!
- Lee

[Swirly]

That is CRAZINESS! I think this website should be known by more people so they can see how fake all these photographs are. I am so glad you discussed this!!

[Kimberly Carney]

I remember when photoshop showed up in the newsrooms and photographers were horrified and lamenting that we would never know what was a true photo of an event, a person ... and what was not. You really can't trust what you see. Never could, but in this day and age of photoshopping perfection, you really can't. Or photoshopping a world event, adding someone dead, or an explosion, or flipping an editorial image to make it look better (national geo got nailed for that). So I am not shocked, I see this happen all the time. Well, not see it, but know it happens. I see it in our own blogs (spc) ... So we wonder why we are all having such a hard time with our self image )or kids), when we are comparing ourselves to photoshopped perfection. I am agreement with you.

[GC]

thanks for posting this
I was in shock and sat in front of my screen with my mouth wide open.

[Kathleen Grace]

I just found your website and all I can say is Amen! While womens liberation has helped us in the workplace, I can't see that we have made any strides in self acceptance. Our value seems to be more and more found in our desirability to men. Even our little girls dress provocatively now, getting ready for their real future as a sex toy to some guy. Of course as women we want to look our best, but we need to make that truely OUR best, not someone elses. I can't really blame men either, we do this to ourselves. If you look around you see plenty of men who love their wives even though they dont look like Eva Longoria. You may notice that even these beautiful women, who we make our idols, have an almost impossible time finding someone who loves them forever. So that kind of beauty isnt all it's cracked up to be. We will never advance as women until we can thumb our noses at the image makers and learn to love ourselves for who we are. Thanks for the link, I showed my daughter, hpefully it is a lesson that will stick with her.

[Kathleen Grace]

I just found your website and all I can say is Amen! While womens liberation has helped us in the workplace, I can't see that we have made any strides in self acceptance. Our value seems to be more and more found in our desirability to men. Even our little girls dress provocatively now, getting ready for their real future as a sex toy to some guy. Of course as women we want to look our best, but we need to make that truely OUR best, not someone elses. I can't really blame men either, we do this to ourselves. If you look around you see plenty of men who love their wives even though they dont look like Eva Longoria. You may notice that even these beautiful women, who we make our idols, have an almost impossible time finding someone who loves them forever. So that kind of beauty isnt all it's cracked up to be. We will never advance as women until we can thumb our noses at the image makers and learn to love ourselves for who we are. Thanks for the link, I showed my daughter, hpefully it is a lesson that will stick with her.

[Kathleen Grace]

I just found your website and all I can say is Amen! While womens liberation has helped us in the workplace, I can't see that we have made any strides in self acceptance. Our value seems to be more and more found in our desirability to men. Even our little girls dress provocatively now, getting ready for their real future as a sex toy to some guy. Of course as women we want to look our best, but we need to make that truely OUR best, not someone elses. I can't really blame men either, we do this to ourselves. If you look around you see plenty of men who love their wives even though they dont look like Eva Longoria. You may notice that even these beautiful women, who we make our idols, have an almost impossible time finding someone who loves them forever. So that kind of beauty isnt all it's cracked up to be. We will never advance as women until we can thumb our noses at the image makers and learn to love ourselves for who we are. Thanks for the link, I showed my daughter, hpefully it is a lesson that will stick with her.

[ceanandjen]

Well, first of all, hurrah that you looked at your beautiful self in the mirror and apologized.

Oh.my.goodness. I, like you, knew this was going on, but holy cow, this is so blatant. I think the one that disturbs me the most is the Kelly Clarkson one, because it is so clear that they removed, as you say, about 1/3 of her body from the photo.

The rest of us are real, and we should be damn proud of that, because if this proves nothing else, it proves that anyone can look like these supposed perfect people...but not everyone can look like "us." We are all beautiful in our own right, and we are all perfectly flawed (ode to our dear SARK).

xoxo

[daisies]

i feel sick to my stomach ~ looking at those images and how they've been altered ... sigh ... its hard enough to filter out the bad messages in our heads without being bombed with so many freaking unrealistic image expectations ... i knew this was happening and yet, i guess i really didn't completely see it ... thanks for sharing this!

[La'Saundra]

Wow! Like you, I knew that was going on but to actually see it?I'm floored! I can name random celebrities that I've wished I looked like but the truth is THEY don't even look like that! Again, wow...I've got to pass that link along...

[Lisa Clarke]

The sad part is, that many of those women are so much more attractive before they've been altered. What's wrong with freckles, anyway?

[Star]

I am in complete agreement. I looked at every picture and, beyond the obvious of what a difference there was between the before and after, the big thing that struck me was that the men were deemed pretty perfect just as they were. Let me guess who's working on those photos...a man?

Like you, I've had body issues and my weight has been way up and way down and then back up again. I don't buy those magazines and the amount of television I watch has dwindled, and yet those images are pervasive in our society.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and this illuminating link.

[Delia]

Thank you for sharing this...I think your soapbox should get a lot of wear out of this one! Especially since you are a photographer, it is powerful that you've recognized this issue and can keep taking photos of beautiful REAL women to put out there!
Love,
D.

[DebR]

Eva Longoria was one of the ones that really jumped out at me as well. The woman wears a size 00, ferpetessake - a double-zero!! - and yet they decided she needed thinning in the photo?? Gaaahhhhh!!!!! That sort of thing drives me nuts.

Did you see the photo layout Jamie Lee Curtis did a few years ago (I *think* it was in MORE mag, but I'm not sure about that) where she (and this was her own idea) showed a typical retouched Hollywood shot of herself and then beside it showed an un-retouched photo of the real her - gray hairs, dark circles under the eyes, normal skin texture, slightly saggy jaw, slightly poochy tummy, little saddlebags on the thighs...in other words a real, genuine, middle-aged woman who is beautiful, but NOT Hollywood-perfect.

She said in the article that she wanted to make it clear that other women her age shouldn't worry if they don't look like her because SHE doesn't even look like her...at least not the "her" that the ads choose to show the rest of us. I thought that was a fabulous thing to do, especially for a woman who works in a job where image is considered everything.

I loved reading your rant and I say Amen!!

[Jennifer]

I am schocked. Like you said, I knew this was going on, but my goodness! Thank you for showing us this. I always gave myself heartache over my skin, and now I see I don't have to. We are all beautiful on our own. Thank you!

[jenica]

hehe, i just got done reading and commenting on the other post. man am i glad to see you so fired up!

[deirdre]

Everytime I see celebrity "before" pictures I feel ever so much better about myself. they really do look just like the rest of the world before the adjustments. This has really opened my eyes about how pictures can be manipulated. And to think of all the years I've spent sucking in my stomach!

[Dreamy]

I couldn't agree more!

I actually don't buy those magazines. I don't even read them in the dentist's waiting room or in the line at the supermarket. I can't stand them. Here in Australia magazines like Woman's Day etc are an insult to women. They are just all gossip and speculation and have a very condescending and intolerant tone. Intolerant to what is NORMAL! And they are written by women for women...Go figure. But, even if I consciously don't read these magazines, I think we are surrounded with such images everywhere we turn...big ads, television, newspapers...they are everywhere portraying emotions of guilt and self-consciousness among so many women. It is wrong!