False Reality

Should we be confident in the body we are given or conform to looking like a model? Should we hide who we really are through the false reality of Photoshop?

Beautiful is a word we hear day by day, referring to women. In todays society beauty has a pre- conceived image in our minds. We see beauty as a size two with flawless skin, but is that what beauty really is? Society has made us believe that beauty is only relevant to women but what about the men in the world that have self esteem issues just as women do. Marketing companies alter men's pictures just as much as they alter women's pictures. It is known that every girl would rather stare at a six pack of abs instead of a gut caused by a six pack of beer. The same goes for men though, they would rather look at flawless women with no rolls, a perfect butt, and perfect boobs. This may be ideal to look at but is it ethical to change the way someone looks just to satisfy society?



  To the left of the screen you can see a picture of a male model. The left side of the photo is before and the right side is after making it "desirable". The before picture has no negative aspects to it at all but because society is so focused on image it was touched up and the man's natural image was influenced.  Is it ethical to alter someone's image just because the real person's looks won't attract the consumer. Many people believe it not to be.

        One popular company has begun a campaign, where they only use natural  models, no photo shop is applied to them. This company is Arie; which is a sub group of the American Eagle franchise. Arie is using all natural/ real women models and handing out stickers to all consumers to promote that everyone is beautiful. They are trying to change the social norm, change societies notions that you have to be a size two to be beautiful.

      Some celebrities have even started to fight back. Take Lord for example a picture of her was released and she clearly knew that the photo had been touched up. She took to twitter to fight back, posting the real photo and stating the picture previously posted was edited and the real one was posted also stating that flaws are ok.

      The woman to the right is posing for a commercial promoting makeup. The picture on the right is what her face actually looks like when the makeup is applied, her blemishes are still seen. Having a picture promoting makeup with no flaws makes someone who has blemishes feel that they are undesirable and not as good as this person because either A. they don't have flaws or B. the makeup hides theirs. Is this not false advertising?
Does this not make the model feel insecure
because they are altering what she truly looks like?

 This picture doesn't look altered but if you look closely the stomach got taken in and the butt got reshaped. This picture shows that even the smallest flaws need to be adjusted.







Most of the pictures are of photo shop altering someone's image but this next picture is showing that makeup can even change someone's appearance. The picture shows step by step how to make that perfect "model" look but step 1 is still a beautiful girl and she should not have to hide behind makeup for people to find her beautiful.



Shalom Schwartz defined conformity as follows:
restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others and violate social expectations or norms.
      Society has made it a norm to think that beauty if all of these AFTER pictures but clearly not even the models look like that. We are conforming to what we think is right when really, our flaws are what make us beautiful.
    While looking at Schwartz's values, numbering them from most important to least I ended up having power and achievement as the top two which is about self-enhancement. Although I do not agree with altering ones body to fit this ideal image; because of society, it is the way we naturally think.
    In the beginning of this course we discussed the 18th and 19th century. The 18th century thinking would not agree with altering ones body to fit this criteria. The enlightenment need reason behind wanting to conform and there really isn't a reason other than it is what everyone is doing because others are doing it. On the other hand, 19th century would be more prone to agreeing with this because it is all about being artistic, revolting against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment; it is all about emotion. On the other hand though, 19th century thinkers would say that these people are not being individuals. If everyone is trying to alter their body or image to fit these non-existent body types to appeal to the masses than where is the creativity and individuality? 19th century would rather see a woman showing off her curves or bigger chest because that is true emotion and art. 

    In the Essay, "Fashion , Identity and Social Actors" it states, "We are not obliged to make a drastic choice between ethical and aesthetic options. The choice for what is beautiful is not necessarily a selfish choice. Consumption, the new frontier of citizenship, may not only help us reassure ourselves, provide us with new experiences or anchor our shaky identity, but may also help us find a new way to relate to others, a new sociality and a new morality" (87).

Although this passage is saying how it might be a good thing to conform, it doesn't make sense to "relate to others" (as they put it) by masking what they really look like. It would make more sense to relate to people by sharing your unique bodies and embracing what you were born with.

  "Adolescence: Identity, Fashion and Narcissism" in the Identity Through Fashion book targets the audience that feels they need to use apps such as Photo Shop or Instagram to change the coloring of the photo to make them appear a certain way.
 On the first page it states that it is appealing to preserve the body and look young. Many parents try to dress like their children because it keeps them young. This is similar to the photos, as we age we get wrinkles, once we have children we have a few more stretch marks or weight in the mid section, as we stress out we get acne, it's life, it happens, but people are trying to slow down the process of aging and not looking "fresh" anymore.
   
        The essay starts to talk about why we try to alter our body by stating:

                               Normal adolescents belong to groups of friends who have enormous influence over them. It is well known that during this period of development, parents become less important models than the peer group. What the group establishes as a valued fashion comes from the outside and will be determining during identity formation. Adolescents, being unstable and without defined identities, are then in continuous process of comparing themselves to the group and have a strong desire to belong (140).

Teens look up to super models, actors, singers, and everything that is displayed in magazines and other media devices. Teens need to know that these people also have flaws and extra weight and blemishes and stretch marks and that they are just like everyone else. If teens keep being influenced by these role models in this way it may lead to them unsafely dieting or getting an eating disorder just to try and get this "perfect" body that no one actually has.
To further this idea the essay states:
                               Different authors have addressed and studied issues such as stable body satisfaction or dissatisfaction, the physical-appearance comparison tendency, the internalization of thin ideal, self-esteem, depression, identity confusion and body mass. These studies reveal a relationship between idealized female images with a significant decrease in body satisfaction and a significant increase in the state of depression attributable as viewing these images. Appearance and nonappearance social comparisons increase with age, and in some of these studies, girls were reported to compare their bodies most frequently with peers and fashion models (144-5).

Like most young adults, I have an Instagram where I can post pictures and others can look at them and like them. Instagram has a tool where you can modify the lighting and color effect. This tool enhances pictures as well as the way our bodies are perceived. When I first started using Instagram I would change the pictures to black and white because it made my skin look flawless. Yes, I received a lot of likes and comments but is that really how I look? I realized that we rather have all of these random followers liking our pictures than actually seeing who we really are. I have stopped editing my photos and I let the world of Instagram see all my flaws in their natural beauty. 

Although we all do it, we need to stop worrying about hiding our flaws and start showing them off. Be proud of your fuller hips, short legs, fuller stomach, smaller chest. If everyone starts to feel proud of their body then we can fight the image issues we have in todays teens and in our society.