Comments on: Altered Realities Bad for Human Health?

By: HelloKitty

HelloKitty — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:23:30 +0000

Jason, wow, I didn’t know they had photo editing programs 200 years ago. lol Well, I understand people would paint black and white photos to add color but nothing else was needed to be done. Black and white is actually more flattering, but everything back then was honest and direct. Photoshopping is used way too much and when it is not necessary. Jessica Alba needed no tweaking, neither did Adriana Lima. I understand if the model has a large pimple that day, they had a hair across their face, or they have an allergy and their eyes were red and itchy. But wrinkles in the clothes and trimming their legs, arms, and waists and giving them breasts they do not have is not right. It distorts everything and gives young pre-teens and teens a false sense of what is acceptable, and to men too. Men have become way too shallow because of this phenomenon. Most men live in a fantasy world and believe all women should appear this way while they can look like bums and be “acceptable”.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:23:19 +0000

Shala and Gladys you’re both talking guff. It’s been shown numerous times that it’s women who are their own worst enemies when it comes to body image. When women were asked to draw themselves they consistently drew themselves fatter than their partner drew them (sadly I can’t find the article in question) and when asked men are more likely to say they find curvier women attractive than skinnier women (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1223331/Men-prefer-curvier-ladies-size-zero-women.html) and (http://webcenters.netscape.compuserve.com/love/package.jsp?name=fte/curvywomen/curvywomen).

The sad fact is that the pressure put on women is entirely of their own doing: it’s women who read beauty magazines and in many cases it’s women who are the editor of beauty magazines (the editor of Cosmo is a woman, the editor of Marie Claire is a woman). These are women’s magazines FOR women BY women that are responsible for the depiction of women.

Stop blaming men for the body image you inflict upon yourselves.

By: Gladys

Gladys — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:35:43 +0000

I’m awfully late in this discussion but dammit, SHALA, said pretty much what I was thinking by the time I finished reading everyone’s comments. My 16 year old sister WOULDN’T understand what you guys are talking about anyway besides, “How come I’m NOT so thin? So tall? So pretty?” I do think the disclaimer is headed in the right direction. At least when it comes to “commercial” photography. Anyway, good discussion. I feel smarter already!

By: shala

shala — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:57:28 +0000

Hmm, reading the comments so far, I’ve noticed that most of the people saying that adding a disclaimer is bullshit are MEN. Most posters with a female name are much more sympathetic to the idea. Coincidence? Or is it that men don’t have to deal with the same pressures and body image issues that women do? I’m going to go with the latter. So, until you’ve dealt with a lifetime of society constantly telling you that you’re not thin enough, beautiful enough, tan enough, hot enough or busty enough, please STFU. I think a disclaimer is a good idea.

By: mane

mane — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:19:46 +0000

this is shopped! Lamers!

By: misanthropope

misanthropope — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:37:25 +0000

if you are in the habit of letting the media provide your thoughts for you, a defective body image is the least of your worries.

By: Mello

Mello — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:29:56 +0000

It’s not just the tween and teen girls that are being affected by this trend of unrealistic images everywhere. Look at the tween and teen boys of today, they expect to date girls that look like the girls on tv and in the ads that they see everywhere. They are looking for women that are large breasted, tiny, no body hair and want sex all the time with little to no commitment or expectation. They expect this, because everywhere they look they see half naked airbrushed women that look like they are ready to go. Even adult males now seem to have a great deal of anger because they think that if they had that car, or that type of lifestyle they see in the ads and on tv, then they would have those (unreal) beautiful women. I have heard men state over and over that women are just looking for the man with the best stuff and will toss him aside for a bigger, better deal. This opinion seems to be based more on always seeing these sexy women selling stuff, or looking like they want to make love to merchandise. I am not that old, but I recall the time when a teenage boy was ecstatic that a real girl was willing to let him touch her boobs, let alone show up and get naked. It is a shame to me that so many teens and young guys have never really seen a real, naked woman, in spite of having more porn on demand than ever before.

By: drew

drew — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:24:16 +0000

alex,
my shaming comment was a joke. obviously that isnt a plausible path to take… which is what made it a joke.

caitlin,
ill have to agree to disagree with you. granted, i wouldnt want to be a pre-teen girl and i cant really ever know what that feels like. my point is that if it is so damaging to young people, a disclaimer is not nearly enough to either fix or help that situation. if these magazines are actually affecting children in such a potent way, then why not put an age limit on buying them like porn magazines?
i think its easy to bring this discussion to the broader topic of proper self image (and the apocalypse???? in the crazy and awesome post above mine), but thats not actually what we are talking about. we are talking about a disclaimer on photoshopped images. the pictures themselves are a symptom of a greater problem and attacking it with a note at the bottom of a page is equivalent to giving a cough drop to a cancer victim.
my point of view leads me to strongly oppose any sort of limit on creative liberties, because (like a lot of people already said) who draws the line? i would just prefer to see a fix occur in parenting, education, or better judgement rather than having an anonymous group decide what is real and what is appropriate for adult eyes.