There comes a time in every person’s life when the issue of self-image comes into play. Behind every selfie, there are 75 other selfies taken in a two-minute time stamp. While this may seem to be all fun and games, it can actually be quite challenging to one’s ego.
It’s not a new concept, since most, if not all industries use Photoshop in the technologically frenzy age we have entered. Photoshop is used in nearly every current market, striving for the goal of perfection. Companies use Photoshop from making an apple look more red in an apple juice advertisement, to making a Big Mac look beautifully juicy.
But it goes further than food. Advertisers create an entire new body and facial features for models in commercials and magazines. But, isn’t touching up and airbrushing an innocent act? Well, tell that to the billions of girls all over the world downloading apps to Photoshop their butts, lips, boobs, or anything else they may have once thought was not up to the beatific standard.
The ideal body is no longer the curvaceous Marilyn Monroe, despite Kim Kardashian’s attempt to make it a comeback. The standard idyllic body is the bootylicous Barbie, with plump shiny lips, and caked on contour. While times change and there is nothing wrong with a new form of beauty, there are more outlets for girls to change themselves using apps, instead of accepting and loving themselves for who they are.
The typical 13-year-old no longer exists. Girls go from 10 to 21 really quick with the help of some make-up, the perfect filter, and the press of a button. Next thing you know; 21-year-olds are jealous of the girl they babysit. Insecurities are programmed into human nature, but with the help of Photoshop turning already beautiful models into impossible beauty expectations, the depression of reality sits in. Girls struggle more now with body image, chasing the dream body.
Everything is geared towards fitness, make-up, becoming instafamous. The ultimate goal is to make everyone like you, but how could that be tangible when you don’t look like a Victoria secrets angel. FYI, that model doesn’t even look like the model in the picture. I bet that model looks at the picture and feels immediately insecure that she can’t look that way.
Why do we have to change anyone to make them look a certain way? So, because you made her picture look more tan, more people are going to buy it, versus an already perfect and half-naked woman.
But this doesn’t start and stop with women, men are sexualized just the same. Abs are enhanced, bodies are toned, faces contoured before photo-shoots. Men pose in underwear and are used to make things appeal to masculinity, meaning if you aren’t a shredded bodybuilder, you’re not a man.
While people are currently standing up against the age of Photoshop, it is still an issue in this society. It is important to remember who we are as individuals, and not become wrapped up in the world of makeup and plastic.
