Position Essay

If you have ever walked through a grocery store you might have noticed magazines near the checkout. Bright pictures and loud slogans cry out for your attention. What you might not realize is that most images of women are completely changed through the process of photo editing. This immoral act negatively affects women all over the world.

Photoshopping or altering pictures of women creates unreal ideals of beauty. Processes like airbrushing erase all blemishes and smooth out wrinkles. Editors can stretch and change even the shape of the body, making it slimmer or giving fuller curves. The madness doesn't stop there. Even hair can be changed to instantly give more volume or tame unwanted wisps. While it may look natural and difficult to tell it is edited, it creates a standard of beauty that in most cases is impossible to achieve. As an example, take a look at the following picture:

Photo from msmorphosis.com

The woman on the left is glowing. She looks happy and healthy. But that just wasn't enough for Redbook magazine's cover. If you look closely at the right image, you will see she has been edited to their standard of beauty. The wrinkles around her eyes have been smoothed and her back, arm and waist have been changed so she looks considerably thinner.

Even if you are aware that photos are being edited, there are professionals behind the job and know how to make it look good. Obviously, they try not to publish the original photo, so you cannot tell exactly how much is real and how much is altered. This hugely messes up woman's self-esteem and healthy body image.

What exactly is body image? Put simply it is how you see yourself and how you feel in your body. A negative body image distorts your own perception of yourself. You might feel ashamed, self-conscious, and anxious about your body, and might even feel that only other people are attractive.

The National Eating Disorder Association states that: “People with negative body image have a greater likelihood of developing an eating disorder and are more likely to suffer from feelings of depression, isolation, low self-esteem, and obsessions with weight loss.” What starts as only thoughts soon changes actions, and this can lead to severe problems.

Rachel Johnston, as reported by dailymail.uk, almost killed herself when her anorexia went too far. Her weight dropped tremendously, to the point she only weighed about 60 pounds. When asked what triggered Johnston to start starving herself, she explained how she cut out magazine pictures and pasted them all over her room and locker. This motivation to be thinner turned into many hospital visits, depression, and osteoporosis.

Effects are not only seen in cases of anorexia, but may possibly be drawn from plastic surgery statistics. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery reported a 471% increase in number of cosmetic procedures in women alone, from 1997 to 2013.  Although perhaps not a direct result, this is a correlation with the increase of Photoshopped images. Surgeons often report patients coming in with pictures from magazines to express exactly what they want.

Perhaps what is most disturbing about our messed up ideals of the female body is how it affects young girls and teens. The National Institute on Media and the Family reports that at age thirteen, 53% of American girls are unhappy with their bodies. By time the girls reach age seventeen, that percentage grows to a massive 78%. Is selling a product worth taking a girl’s self-confidence away?

            Some argue that all the debate surrounding use of Photoshop is a waste of time and could be better spent elsewhere. Tina Fey wrote in her book, “As long as we all know it’s fake, it’s no more dangerous to society than a radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds ...” The idea that we can dismiss it simply because we know it is fake goes against human nature. Thoughts and images in our mind actually have a huge amount of power. A study published on the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) website reported that people could actually increase muscle mass by mentally working out. Clearly any sort of visualization has a great effect on our body’s health.

Others, like Psychology Today, argue that there are not a significant amount of studies done showing Photoshop is actually the cause of eating disorders. Dr. Sarah Ravin points out that this is because of a difference between eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, and disordered eating. She writes on her blog:

“Disordered eating is very widespread in our country, especially among women. I define disordered eating as a persistent pattern of unhealthy or overly rigid eating behavior – chronic dieting, yo-yo dieting, binge-restrict cycles, eliminating essential nutrients such as fat or carbohydrates, obsession with organic or “healthy” eating – coupled with a preoccupation with food, weight, or body shape.

By this definition, I think well over half of the women in America (and many men as well) are disordered eaters.

The way I see it, disordered eating “comes from the outside” whereas eating disorders “come from the inside.” What I mean is this: environment plays a huge role in the onset of disordered eating, such that the majority of people who live in our disordered culture (where thinness is overvalued, dieting is the norm, portion sizes are huge, etc) will develop some degree of disordered eating, regardless of their underlying biology or psychopathology.”

Although only a small percentage of women are actually diagnosed with an eating disorder, many fall into disordered eating. This is still unhealthy and can cause problems. Why should we continue to Photoshop if it harms people?

Women have a right to see the truth. The studies have been completed and the evidence is clear: photo shopping is detrimental to our society. Just looking at the power that magazines and images have to influence our actions, we could have a huge opportunity to change people. Can you imagine what would happen if we put a greater emphasis on what women have accomplished or discovered, instead of idealizing their bodies?