Reverse airbrushing

It appears the relationship between poor body image and altered images in the media has come full-circle. Models and actresses deemed too-thin are now being filled out via the magic of retouching. Here's how I see it

1) The media promotes an unhealthy "ideal" via airbrushed images like this and this and this and this and this and this.

2) The results make real women feel like crap because how on earth can we ever be 100% smooth and cellulite/wrinkle/fat-free?

3) We diet or over-exercise or get down on ourselves because of this "I'll never be 'good' enough" feeling.

4) Because starlets are not immune to feelings (though many use Botox to erase said feelings from their faces), they get bit in their Pilates-trained asses with the same feelings of self-doubt and feel like they must lose weight (they may also face pressure from their bosses/directors/managers to look a certain way.) So they get thinner.

5) And here we are, with actresses that are SO thin, the very airbrushing techniques used to shade in their abs and smooth away dimples and erase zits and crows feet are now being used to fill out their tummies and plump up their thighs and disguise bony chests and hips.

Nicky Eaton, head of PR at Condé Nast (which publishes Vogue, GQ, and Glamour) has confirmed that images of models are enhanced to make them appear fuller-figured:

"There have been cases where models are booked way ahead of a shoot and then they turn up two months later looking less healthy and perhaps a bit underweight. We wouldn't be happy showing them that way, so it is then that we would need that person to look a little bit fuller."

PS Check out these before/after pics - in this one, Katherine Heigl's chest appears to look a bit fulller...same with Keira Knightley's.

When will we ever be just...happy?

Comments

Judging by the comments on the Keira Knightley article, never. One woman comments that "big breasts are a thing of the past." Um...excuse me? Since when is anatomical structure a fad? (Oops, sorry, there for a minute I forgot what culture I inhabit!)

The only way we're ever going to be healthy and happy in our own bodies (collectively, I mean - individually, I'm fairly happy in mine for the most part) is if everyone in the world suddenly and simultaneously goes blind. Maybe then it could really be about how we feel in our own bodies...

My, I'm bitter today! Sorry! :-)

V.

Indeed, Leslie! Rationally, I think many people know that airbrushing and digital enhancement goes on, but I don't know that many people understand how much of this digital transformation is happening. Young girls, especially, need to see this and understand that even the girl they see in the magazine that they think is perfect doesn't look like that girl. Did that make sense? I hope you know what I mean -- if you've ever seen a celebrity in real life (and I know you have), it's shocking how much they don't look like what we see on TV and in magazines.

Not to be the voice of dissension, because I agree with everything you said Leslie, but I don't think these models are being airbrushed to look "less skinny" or to "fill them out." It appears to me that the photographers are perfectly happy with them being ultra-thin - except in their chests. In all 3 of the examples you showed it looks like their waists have been whittled even smaller!! (Esp. Kiera Knightley's). So it's just more of the same: itty bitty barbie waist (including no anatomically correct marks, ahem, Cameron) and huge big boobies. And heaven help you if you are too muscular.

Man, now I'M feeling not good enough:)

Hmm, looking at the last two photos I'd have to agree--they've made the waists even smaller and just bumped up the boobs.

Though it the first one, they've taken away the hip bone shadows, so it sounds like there are two different aesthetics the editors are trying to enforce. Either way, it's creepy. Especially since women really do seem to believe they should look like these imaginary creations!

I can say that most actresses in this country feel the pressure to be rail thin and have larger breasts. Especially in Hollywood. A LOT of agents, producers, and directors will tell young women how much weight they "need" to lose, and what their measurements "should" be. Sometimes producers will even have people spy on an actress on the set to find out what she's eating.
I read an interview with a stuntwoman who said that she was afraid she might be out of work; that all the actresses she doubled for had gotten so skinny, she didn't look like them anymore. And if she lost weight, she wouldn't be able to do the stunts!
I think there's a reason that celebrities are so young. Yes, the target audience is young, but I think it's also because younger folks, especially young girls, are more controllable. I actually heard a modeling agent say that once; that he'd rather work with a 15 year-old than a 20-something, because the 15 year-old will do whatever he says and won't talk back.
It's all about control.

Faith Hill's arm looks like it is about 4 feet long in the changed photo.

Is it wrong that I thought "I have *got* to learn how to Photoshop my own pictures?"

Actually, I'm amazed at how much can be changed in a photograph. I mean, I always knew that there was altering to an extent, but I just can't believe how much there is.

And how sad is it that the expectation is now complete and total perfection with no leeway on either side of the spectrum?

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it IS all about the boobage.
back in the day I competed in a fitness competition (for an article) and while the judges in their (fingerquote) expert (unFQ) opinion approved of my physique (*eyeroll* wasnt this about the COMPETITION PIECE? anyway...) they were quite clear that I needed to keep that yet GAIN in the chest.
breast tissue.

fat.

without gaining elsewhere.

hmmm.

and slackermama? interestingsad point in your first sentence.

M.

The sooner you all accept that a women's role is to be a sex object for men, the better off everyone will be.

Air brush the pope for all I care!

if you don't pay my bills you get little more than a passing glance I don't care if your riding around with a car full of money with the windows down. It just doesn't get my attention.

Leslie - did you cross-post this to HuffPo?? The last two comments make me think another sh*tstorm is coming:)

I looked up the interview that Alyssa referenced about stuntwomen and thinness - and I actually found several that support what she said! Here's an interesting one: http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=653 And here's another with Lucy Lawless http://www.lucylawless.info/articles/2004/backstage0104.php

MizFit - LOVE your example. Have you blogged about that? I want to hear more about your contest!

Charlotte and Alyssa- those are some interesting points you bring up about the Barbie figure, the stuntwoman, and the control issue. I also think that it's so hard for people to objectively look at an airbrushed photo and REALLY recognize that it's not real... it's one thing to know logically that it's all airbrushed, but it's something else to actually properly realize it.

What's the point of airbrushing, anyways? If these celebrities are being used in ad campaigns, you'd think that they'd get more support for their product if the women seeing the ad can say "wow, she looks great, and I know that with a LOT of hard work that physique can be gained", rather than the negative "wow, she's so ridiculously thin and smooth and it's all airbrushed so I know it's impossible but let's try to do all of these terrible things to my body to try and achieve that look anyways".

...it's all rather sick.

Charlotte - you're too funny. You don't think our regular readers would leave a comment about accepting woman as sex objects? You crazy!

Dara, I bet your experience at Shape gave you lots of interesting inside info in this arena - maybe you can share?

Alyssa - I'm off to check out that stunt article. You always provide such wonderfully unique insight from your career as an actress! Please keep it up :-)

Many years ago I read a parenthood book written by the father of, among other children, a young girl of about 11 or 12. He came into a room once and found her slowly flinging her head this way and that in front of a mirror, and getting increasingly upset. It turned out that she was trying to toss her long hair as slowly yet as fully as the models in shampoo-conditioner TV commercials! He had to explain to her about fans, and about slow-motion. The anxiety starts young and the ability of photography to create literally superhuman imagery doesn't help.

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Curve are totally in...which is great because girls get so unhealthy trying to be skinny. I'm naturally skinny so I even buy my curves..lol! Silicone bras and bubbles padded panties have saved my skinny butt from people who used to tell me I looked anorexic!

I find it hard to believe that Conde Nast photo editors have added weight to their models very often. And adding extra curves in all the right places doesn't count in my book. Instead they should look for models who aren't just a few weeks of crash dieting away from looking like skin and bones.

Valerie, the commenter on the Keira Knightly post also said she has size 34*G* breasts, and so I think her comment about large breasts being a thing of the past was meant to express gratitude for the possibility of back-saving breast-reduction surgery. it's one thing to be happy in your own body; it's another thing to be in constant pain.

I'm just coming to the acceptance that all fashion and celebrity pictures/magazines are works of science fiction. Nothing is real and everything is created in a lab.

I'm still waiting for the day when the first magazine featuring "real" people comes out. Untouched photos will be like organics one day.

"Girls health" is a link here?
The fundamentalist website
telling you how sex can "hurt" your
body?
If it is sex and not assault--
sex will not hurt your body.
Sex is healthy, and a good
relationship combined with sex is
healthy-- a natural and often beneficial part of a good life.
Relationships at any age may be wonderful or difficult, may last or may not---with or without sex. Attachment
can bring strong emotion and at times sadness--with or without sex.

Girls do have sex lives--and they should protect themselves against disease and pregnancy--but otherwise not be afraid to get involved.
Learning how to relate intimately--with or without sex is of value.

Hi Myra,
That's odd - I never viewed girlshealth's web-site as anti-sex. I believe it was developed by the Office on Women's Health in the Department of Health and Human Services, and the goal is "to promote healthy, positive behaviors in girls between the ages of 10 and 16." Trust me, I am the LAST person you will ever find pushing absitinence-based education. Maybe you're thinking of a different web site?
Tx!
Leslie

This stuff makes me so sad. What must it be like to live with your body under such strict scrutiny that you starve yourself til your skeletal to earn a living?
I'm glad I don't buy or read your usual women's magazines. Not good for your psyche!

I hate the campaign against skinny.

I'm naturally skinny. My parents are skinny, my grandparents are skinny, my siblings are skinny. This is despite eating like a normal person, enjoying red meat often, and gorging on potato chips and fries at least once a week. And not exercising. My doctor tells me I am healthy (however, he does tell me I should walk more instead of sitting at a desk all day).

What I hate are the people who hate me b/c I'm skinny. The people who don't think twice when they tell me I look anorexic, even though they would think it was rude to tell someone that they're fat. All I can say is "mind your own business, people." I'm happy with my body.

If neither me nor my doctor are obsessing about my weight, I don't see why you should.

RCW, I'm sorry you're on the wrong end of that stuff.

While I'm not in favor of starving oneself skinny, I am certainly in favor of one's body being okay, no matter how it "growed".

*grin* Your doctor's right about the exercise, of course. But exercise is a lot more about keeping the heart healthy than it is about achieving a specific body size. Leastwise, it should be!

The people who do these digital airbrushing jobs don't know when enough is enough. I find that, these days, they go way overboard in making a person's skin look smooth and shiny -- it always ends up looking like plastic. A great photographer appreciates the texture of human skin, blemishes and all -- it adds character and "life" to the image. These people might as well put CGI renditions of celebrities on their rags -- they would be even more unnaturally perfect that way.

I deal with airbrushing/retouching on a daily basis. While not all of the jobs I work on are 'fashion' or 'model related' please note that it's common practice to retouch each and every image that we see - especially in this digital age - before it delivers to print or the on-line world.

One must also be aware of the celeb approval process as well. In many cases the direction comes directly from the talent!! Trust me on this.

I admire those like Keira Knightley, who want to be shown mostly as-is. It's about time. After all, the rest of us don't always have the resources to hire a professional photoshop guru to smooth out the splotchy skin, remove that mole and under eye bags and take off pound or two or five.

There must be a way to communicate this to the public.
In this digital age you can't trust what you see anymore! Period.

What struck me as incredibly ridiculous (and quite telling) about this article's premise is the fact that "airbrushing" has come to automatically mean "to make someone skinnier in their picture" to so many people, rather than simply (and FAR more accurately), "using an airbrush tool"...

I think this illustrates just how ridiculous, extreme and unhealthy our culture's fashion standards have become.

I deal with airbrushing/retouching on a daily basis. While not all of the jobs I work on are 'fashion' or 'model related' please note that it's common practice to retouch each and every image that we see - especially in this digital age

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