If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
It's refreshing to see some things that are so important that we all agree on them: loving our bodies, minds, and selves, and encouraging our sisters and daughters and cousins to love themselves.
"I have a problem with the cover. She looks so young! It's like we're showing favoritism." It was at this point, dear reader, that the whistle was deployed.
What? You didn't get the memo? Ladies, you are supposed to be unnaturally thin -- but with full Cs, a tight butt, and all-over muscle tone. Oh, and guess what? If you somehow manage this Herculean feat, you will still require copious amounts of airbrushing. Reverse airbrushing, that is.
Talk to them -- yes, both girls and boys -- about the enhanced images and videos that they will be exposed to. Tell them that pornography is like false advertising, the goal being to sell and market products, not necessarily to convey truth and honesty.
Shouldn't it be easy to sit back and simply appreciate our bodies for all they are and all they do for us? Not so according to recent studies. A majority of women harbor a negative body image perception.
Here Lauren Hutton was again, in 2011, surrounded by pages of commercially flawless babes. Boldly and knowingly looking into the camera, she demands to be experienced on her own ground.
The past year was filled with nonstop reality TV weight loss drama, a smattering of Photoshopping debacles and some bonafide plus-sized model love.
While magazine editors profess to be on the lookout for more normal models, not very many of them practices what they preach.
Do we see pressure for men to have an "ideal body type" in other ways besides mannequins? Sure. Men are now being subjected to airbrushing in the media to give them the perfect body.
You know it's a weird month in celeb-land when Good Housekeeping cover girl, Michelle Obama, is photoshopped within an inch of her life and Marie Claire cover girl, Jessica Simpson, is not only un-airbrushed, but also sans makeup.
I'll admit it: I'm as susceptible as any woman to the pressure to be perfect. I read magazines. I watch television. And most perilous of all, I live in Los Angeles.
I think the shock came from the incongruity of a woman of mature age dressed like an extra from the Halloween scene of Mean Girls - a movie about high schoolers, in case you have forgotten.
We all want to be attractive and admired. What I object to is the excess, the shameless retouching, the body sculpting performed by so many magazines, and the dangerous message it sends.
Welcome to the photoshop hall of shame courtesy of Newsweek entitled, "Unattainable Beauty" (Click Here). It's likely that you heard about the Ralph L...
We've all become amateur retouchers, at home laboring over personal photos to remove red eyes, delete blemishes and improve the overall appearance of our skin. So when did retouching become such an abominable practice?
The images in Ralph Lauren's ads are linked to the promotion of eating disorders. They perpetuate the illusion that only when you achieve "thinness" will you be beautiful, adored and loved.
