#1 September 6th, 2010 08:23 PM

blissed

Member

The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

Found an interesting article that got me thinking

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life … 505689.cms

There are so many images on ISM that would be lovely used in advertising and that appreciation of the diversity of beauty would relieve people of the pressure to look attractive to everyone. When in fact beauty is like music, there are lots of different styles from metal and techno to a million styles that are unique to the artists. Ironically rather than personalised advertising being a demon in this field it could be amazing, once an advertiser knows our kind of beauty, images of that beauty will be used to sell to us. Beauty in blanket advertising and mainstream media is like  the music in TV theme tunes or lifts, it has to appeal to everyone but never can so doesn't work for anyone. Where we are with fashion and beauty magazines is like music magazines being all about TV themes and lift music and how much we should like it :)

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_gethsemane_

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

In relation to this article I do think the knowledge of just how much images are manipulated in Photoshop should be communicated to girls and women as much as possible.  However I don't know if labelling these pictures is necessary, seems a very literal approach to communicating that message...

I do think perhaps it should be touched on in the school curriculum, so that boys and girls know that pictures in magazines are a false ideal.  They could be likened to illustrations in books for the younger students and perhaps the older students could look at, discuss and document what they think the possible outcomes of the community at large thinking it is possible to look like drastically edited models in magazines.

That pictures in magazines are like pictures drawn in a book really needs to be gotten across to as many young people as possible, so they grow up knowing that and don't get caught up in trying to look like something that is actually phsyically impossible.

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http://yeahbutnobutyeahbut.wordpress.com/

blissed

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

I think Britney spears looks better in the before shots than the after.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar … sions.html

In the before shots her proportions have a natural balance and her whole appearance has it's own character. The after photos don't have that coherence so look a bit like a word written in 2 or 3 different fonts.

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Last edited by blissed (September 11th, 2010 10:25 AM)

alisha-x

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

Wow - brave Britney for sharing those. It also shows the unrealistic expectations put on the star as well, since her PR and marketing people would have had those airbrushed changes made and Britney is then almost forced to try to live up to the fake version of herself.

The unairbrushed pics show someone who still looks awesome after having kids - still pretty toned and slim and with a great body!

I think airbrushing has a place in photography - fix a few stray hairs, remove a spot or bruises and correct any mistakes which are photographic (contrast and tricks of the light etc) are all fine. A photo is artwork and is a piece of design. Airbrushing can certainly be used to fix images and act as makeup for the body in the same way foundation is used on the face.

When it comes to drastic changes however it has gotten quite extreme with images created where no real woman exists - the changes are more than corrective - they create an entirely new woman from the one in front of the camera. It is when this gets out of control we have girls striving to meet a perfection that simply doesn't exist. Int he same way mascara adverts and hair adverts now say 'filmed with lash/hair inserts and post production' photos should say 'post production and figure alteration' has been used to act as a diclaimer to help people see what is real and what is simply fantasy.

I saw a few documentries in which women had photos of themselves airbrushed - one was a british lady called Dawn - the documentry was 'Dawn gets naked' I think - and she had her face then whole body airbrushed and huge posters put up side by side as well as the retouchers explain everything they did. Real eye opener and good honest information.

I do think people in schools should watch documentries like this as it would help them understand how the images they see on tv and posters are created and what the women they ideal really look like.

Thanks for sharing guys!

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kisses,
Alisha X
New folio! Me naked with a bass guitar http://ishotmyself.com/public/view_gall … ts&offset=

ngaio

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

"Int he same way mascara adverts and hair adverts now say 'filmed with lash/hair inserts and post production' "

Do they really? How awesome!

Problem is that companies WANT the images they put out to be unrealistic and unobtainable, because it keeps women unhappy with how they look and keeps them spending money. Poop.

mania

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

its such a pity thats the way of thinking among so many people these days.. I too had often fallen victim to attaining to a certain image.. and as a great point was made earlier i also love the diversity on this site its our imperfections and differences that make us beautiful

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no gash = no cash

reena

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

I never thought of ngaio! But it makes sense - you buy something hopeing that it will make you look like the girl in the add, and then when it doesnt you end up buying loads of other stuff to try again...

ngaio

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

Yep, exactly. Creating or amplifying insecurities in people is a good way to make money... from weight loss, to hair loss, to eyelash growth to boob growth. I try very hard not to fall prey to these images but the message can get under ya skin.

reena

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

And sadly for a lot of us they do Especially weight loss! We are all meant to look perfect all the time, and thats just impossible!

ngaio

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

Particularly since women's bodies tend to naturally store more body fat than men's... it's a losing battle to fight. :-/

Last edited by ngaio (October 6th, 2010 04:56 PM)

reena

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

Exactly! All women, either big or small are beautiful in different ways. Its just that they don't like us being different!

blissed

Member

Re: The pressure to look a cetain kind of attractive

Just found some new software called Movie reshape. I can see this getting used a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXSj4pcl … r_embedded

I think rather than make things worse I think it could push the already strained credibility of media over the edge so that people will accept it's not real just like a cartoon. Looking at the muscle and hight changer I can see Putin and Kim Jong-il being 2 of the 1st customers :)

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Last edited by blissed (October 10th, 2010 03:05 AM)