Lights, Camera---Photoshop

After reading and thinking about what Tina Fey says in regard to Photoshop, I find myself torn, honestly. I'll admit that I buy into the "beauty standard" sometimes, but I'm conscious of it. However, not everyone can tell an image has been Photoshopped. This is probably something that women’s magazine editors and celebrities rationalize to themselves so they won’t feel guilt ridden. The average American woman or girl may not be able to tell when something has been altered. This is what makes Photoshop problematic. It’s perpetuating the idea that women can look a certain way, so a viewer or reader should look that way too. After all, how hard can it be? These women are doing it! Just eat, workout, or buy what they do and if it doesn’t work there’s no one to blame but yourself for doing it wrong. I think it’s the diet and beauty industries fault because of the way they market products and services in an idealistic way. However, I do think Photoshop can be used for good. As much as I don’t want to bring about a false standard of beauty, my senior high school picture was retouched and it is actually the only picture of me that I’m completely satisfied with. Even though I’m criticizing beauty standards, I don’t think everyone is obligated to only ever publish photos where there’s been zero alteration to their appearance. I can see how that creates a gray area where one photo can be lightly altered and the same alteration could be the equivalent of a facelift to another photo.

Where Tina loses me is the “everyone can tell it’s Photoshop!” argument. This is a lie that women’s magazine editors and celebrities tell themselves so they can sleep at night. The average American woman or girl - See more at: http://virginiasolesmith.com/2012/01/the-tina-fey-photoshop-problem/#sthash.pvLVmd4c.dpuf

Where Tina loses me is the “everyone can tell it’s Photoshop!” argument. This is a lie that women’s magazine editors and celebrities tell themselves so they can sleep at night. The average American woman or girl absolutely can’t tell. That’s why Photoshop is so problematic — because it’s perpetuating the idea that women can look that way, so you should look that way because hey, it’s not that hard, these women are doing it! Just eat like they eat/workout like they do/buy what they buy and if it doesn’t work… blame yourself for doing it wrong (certainly not the diet/beauty industries for selling you this Brooklyn bridge). - See more at: http://virginiasolesmith.com/2012/01/the-tina-fey-photoshop-problem/#sthash.pvLVmd4c.dpuf

Where Tina loses me is the “everyone can tell it’s Photoshop!” argument. This is a lie that women’s magazine editors and celebrities tell themselves so they can sleep at night. The average American woman or girl absolutely can’t tell. That’s why Photoshop is so problematic — because it’s perpetuating the idea that women can look that way, so you should look that way because hey, it’s not that hard, these women are doing it! Just eat like they eat/workout like they do/buy what they buy and if it doesn’t work… blame yourself for doing it wrong (certainly not the diet/beauty industries for selling you this Brooklyn bridge). - See more at: http://virginiasolesmith.com/2012/01/the-tina-fey-photoshop-problem/#sthash.pvLVmd4c.dpuf

Where Tina loses me is the “everyone can tell it’s Photoshop!” argument. This is a lie that women’s magazine editors and celebrities tell themselves so they can sleep at night. The average American woman or girl absolutely can’t tell. That’s why Photoshop is so problematic — because it’s perpetuating the idea that women can look that way, so you should look that way because hey, it’s not that hard, these women are doing it! Just eat like they eat/workout like they do/buy what they buy and if it doesn’t work… blame yourself for doing it wrong (certainly not the diet/beauty industries for selling you this Brooklyn bridge). - See more at: http://virginiasolesmith.com/2012/01/the-tina-fey-photoshop-problem/#sthash.pvLVmd4c.dpuf