Hands off Keira's ta-tas!

For those of you living under a nematode somewhere, I have shocking news: The media alters images of women. Yes, I know it sounds crazy. It is. But it's also true. Scars and cellulite get wiped away like a runny nose. Waists get carved our. Six-packs shaded in. Hair changes color. Entire bodies are trimmed and cleaned up. Curvy girls are turned into lollipop heads. Want an AMAZING, jaw-dropping example? Check this out - it's not a famous woman, but a photographer's example of how far retouching can go. Look at her skin, the whites of her eyes, her boobs, her belly button, her hands and thighs. This is just one teeny tiny example of how we are lied to on a daily basis. Show it to your friends and daughters.

Then, write a letter to Keira Knightly telling her how fab she is. The 23-year-old actress is constantly being dogged by rumors about her weight, yet she keeps her cool. Her rack was totally manipulated in publicity stills for the 2004 flick King Arthur...

...which must make one feel like crap about herself. Now, with a new movie coming out, The Duchess, Keira is taking a stand, saying she is "proud" of her Size As and insisting they not be digitally puffed up in publicity pics.

Good Morning America called me for my take on the subject last night. Unfortunately, they called during the only hour of the day when I was not chainlinked to my phone - during my workout (oh, irony, you slay me) at 5pm CST.

Increased personal public exposure notwithstanding, the topic demands attention. According to gawker.com, Knightley has "rejected Paramount Vantage's request to digitally enhance her breasts in publicity photos for its fall drama The Duchess. It's a devastating blow to what remains of the studio's thinning clout, what with pink slips subbing for napkins in the cafeteria, its Oscar legacy threatened by a genre-mediocrity torrent to come, and one of its biggest stars steadfastly refusing to be... well, one of its biggest stars."

How freaking pathetic is it that movie studios - empires - can be made or broken by the looks of its stars...and those looks aren't even real?

Also, how sad is it that I looked at the cover of Self and thought, "Hmm, cool that they didn't airbrush away her entire thigh and left some actual flesh/muscle."?

Comments

Good for you, Keira! That last link to a retouching example? Scary. I've gotten so used to seeing the airbrushed crap that I kind of forgot what a closeup of a real FACE would look like. I mean, people have PORES! Who knew?

Go Keira - that is so awesome! I'm glad she's saying "no."

Now, about that retouched picture - the girl looked great before any of the airbrushing. She had a fine body - why did they have to mess with it?

It looks like they shrunk her waist/tummy area as well. Because even someone who is constantly plagued by anorexia rumors isn't thin enough.

I'm so glad she told the studio to take a flying leap about her boobage. Small girls can be hot too!! ;)

I love the Self cover.

I LOVE MY DIMINUTIVE BAZUMBAS!

and the word tatas.

and Keira.

at least this time.

As if it wasn't bad enough that the media constantly tells us we should be like all those crazy-thin stars, it turns out that it's not all natural. They're either adding in flesh or taking it away and creating a phony ideal for everyone to feel bad about not living up to (especially teenage girls). Basically just goes to show that you have to take all photos with a grain of salt! I wish we could just learn to love people for what they actually looked like, instead of what some media conglomerate wants...

Hurray for Keira! Just yesterday I went for a bra fitting and found out that I have officially lost a cup size... down to an A. And I've gotta say that its kind of nice to see a big moviestar like that being proud of her body and showing herself the way she IS, not the way that that the movie industry insists she "should" be.

Go Keira! It's awesome that she loves what she was born with and not giving in to media pressure.

and agreed, the model retouched had an amazing body to begin with, definitely PREFER it to the fake airbrush.

This just all makes me so sad and tired. When I think how many of us would give our right arm to look like the BEFORE pictures...

Or would have once upon a time. I've decided I don't care. I'm going to be healthy, and not worry about the looks. If I have a day where I feel the need to look like a model, I'll just Photoshop my own picture and be done with it. :-)

V.

There ya go V! Great idea!
I also prefer the "before" photos.
And I love when women stand up and say "No. Don't you dare" to the various "enhancements" Hollywood likes to insist on. Although, so far, it seems to be mainly English women doing so (Keira Knightly, Kate Winslet), and I think some of the big American stars should take a stand, as it is Hollywood leading the charge for unattainable standards.
Just my opinion.

I like Keira and her signature eff-u pout. They shrunk the girl's whole head, not just the tummy. WTF, people.
Also, don't think there's any retouching in this movie or it's promos. Gonna have to check it out. http://www.disfiguredmovie.com/

Mia - I'm about to watch disFigured and review it here!!!

The real thing is better...all of that altering stuff is lameo..my two cents!

It's frustrating because when I read magazines I always try to remind myself that each picture has been retouched but even with that in the forefront of my mind, I still can't help but feel inadequate compared to the perfectly polished models in front of me.

Also, one of the things I'm most self conscious about are my size As so it was nice to hear that an actress was proud of hers haha.

Hold on a sec, so presumably a similar request was posted when the posted picture was altered (for pirates 2?)
She didn't seem to have a problem with approving that request. But since there was a minor uproar about those alterations, now she's rejecting the request for the duchess?

I don't really know what to make of that.

also, I've just called two video stores about disfigured and it doesn't seem to be out in stores for rental yet. Gah!

Can I just say, in her defense Chubby Runner, that she may be in more of a position now where SHE has the final say, as opposed to her agents, managers, handlers, etc. She also may simply feel more confident that said handlers won't drop her because she's more popular (and therefore they make more money off of her) than she was a few years ago.

I can't believe she's only 23!! She did Love Actually when she was 18 and Pirates at 19 (of course probably even younger due to filming time)! I'm amazed someone with such a spiraling public career (Huge Pride and Prejudice success - love!) seems to have such a grounded body image and is willing to say no. Hey, it was on the front page of yahoo! today and that's great - the more girls and women see the idealism of the media and the more they see people taking a stand the better! Go Keira!

You rock, Keira! I agree that it does seem like the English actresses are really standing up for various body types. Why do we want all actresses to look the same? Or all people to be the same size?

I love it when actors admit to being heavily airbrushed. And I REALLY love the ones who admit they have (gasp!) cellulite and stretch marks. Now THOSE are people we can all relate to.

Good for Keira! :)

I say Go Keira! It's about time somebody in the public eye stood up and said no to airbrushing.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5471524

look what I found, she talks about the fact that she allowed it the first time.
I can't help but appreciate her candour.

All I can say is I'm sporting SIZE G nursing boobs and would give ANYTHING for those As. ANYTHING. The whole digitalization enhancing thing is a NIGHTMARE. Awful.

I work as an assembly operator for magazine covers. I get to see not only the before and afters of the images on hundreds of magazines, but also the re-toucher's notes drawn all over the images.

It's disheartening every day to see beautiful women "retouched" into "perfect" women.

The sad thing was that the "extreme" example you cited, isn't all that unusual.
-Meg

I have always had small "tatas" as you call them. I struggled with my self-esteem in my teens as my friends were buying C cups and I barely needed an A. But now, at 45, I am slim trim (B-C cup) and thankfully NOT saggy, due to some recent weight bearing exercise. My friends, on the other hand, are sagging and hate "dealing" with their now size D, DD, and beyond "tatas". They envy me and tell me I look like a teen, early 20s. I'll take it. Nothing to hold me back....so to speak....I can wear anything I want and not worry about having to "reign the girls in".

Sexy is in the eye of the beholder! I applaud people who refuse to be anything other than what they are. It took me a while, but I love my body now, "little tatas", bit of "baby belly" that persists and some minor cellulite that I just accept.

Just my two cents..... ;) Love to all!
MO