Last time we discussed the photoshop diet – a pet project of mine where I try to highlight how unreal most imagery involving women actually is in the media – I said the following:
See, it’s easy to allow myself to get caught up in the foolishness of “thinspiration” and “thickspiration,” but what about “fitspiration?” That’s not something you’re going to see in the magazines… because that requires work. Work isn’t “fantasy-like” enough for all that.
I’m not going to allow myself to be caught up in the swirl of imagery of women who’ve had 4 kids and 40lbs erased from their bodies. If magazines and media are meant to sell me a fantasy, and they genuinely believe that’s what it takes to get my money… why would I aspire toward looking like a fantasy? Something that is so rare, apparently, that the only way that even their own models can achieve that look is through The Photoshop Diet?
How does this affect our body image? How does this affect the way we look at ourselves? How does this affect the way we treat ourselves? Not even the women we see in the magazines have these ideal bodies… they have the same problems we have. If we’re clinging to these bodies (and booties) in the hopes that we’ll someday look like women who don’t even look like this… all the while, health problems are piling on? It’s a lose-lose situation.
Look how many booty lifts took place on seemingly normal women with figures we see every day. Serena, even in all her fit glory, even had to be “modified.” Look how much cellulite had to be erased from thighs. Look at the arm adjustments, breast lifts, forehead and face adjustments… maybe its time to let these fantasies go.
Excerpted from Retouching, Body Image and The Photoshop Diet | A Black Girl’s Guide To Weight Loss
…and to help you in your “letting go” process, I bring you a collection of Photoshop Diet participants so astounding that even the most ardent believer would have to think twice. Even if you don’t fantasize about looking like a Victoria’s Secret angel, take this as a polite reminder of the subtle yet blatant changes made through photoshopping that result in us having less-than-realistic expectations for our own bodies.
One arm much longer than the other, strange shadowing on the thigh which implies that part of it has been erased. *gasp* You mean, her thighs actually appeared to be touching?
Click through the gallery to see more.
Thoughts?
