Photoshop

photoshop

Photoshop is a paying program that allows users to digitally manipulate images and videos and was first developed and published by Adobe Systems in 1988. Photoshop has been utilized by both print media and the entertainment industry to alter graphics before the publishing of their work. Ranging from small finishing touches to large-scale modifications, Photoshop has become a serious issue in that it distorts the public’s perception of the women’s body. The skewed representation of a perfect female body has feminists attempting to change the way females are viewed and portrayed in the media.

Photoshop is an editing software used to digitally alter models and actresses to conform to the media’s standard of society’s ideal woman. Feminist advocates have made important responses to the editing of the female body and have made their opinions known on the pros and cons of Photoshop use.

File:Interface

Photoshop interface

Women's fashion magazines

Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition Cover 2015

The media plays a huge role in determining the ideal image of a female. Unrealistic body features such as thigh gaps, hourglass-shaped body figures, full breasts, flat stomachs, and skinny waists all have a negative impact on physical standards of women.

Images of women become removed from biological reality and often do not provide achievable standards for appearance comparison, which results in many women feeling inadequate, lowering their self-esteem. Studies have shown however, that women usually prefer looking at more digitally-altered images since it allowed them to assimilate with a perceived “superior group” of women.

The contents of magazines also play a role in reinforcing the stigma of the female figure. In the February 2014 edition of Seventeen, a teenage magazine, the cover features a female celebrity and her struggles with eating disorders. The purpose of her story was to inspire and encourage teenage girls to not be influenced by the media’s portrayal of the ideal female figure. Despite the article’s intentions, the cover also featured a headline saying, “Get An Insane Body”. Impressionable teens revise their definition of what a healthy, beautiful woman should look like to become that which magazine images portray. As a result of media influence, woman see their bodies as objects of judgement and criticism, rather than accepting themselves for who they are.

Feminists responses

The use of photoshop is widely debated and Hence, it has been addressed by several public figures and celebrities. Indeed, Hollywood movie stars like Keira Knightley, Jennifer Lawrence and  spoke out against the use of Photoshop. 

Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley

“I think women’s bodies are a battleground and photography is partly to blame,” expressed Knightley on her protest against Photoshopping. A year ago, Keira Knightley posted a topless photo of her in Interview Magazine as a personal protest against photoshop. She wanted the public to know how her figure really looks like without all the digital editing on her body. Knightley believes that it is important to understand that it really does not matter how a woman’s body is shaped like. Further, the actress openly admitted and informed the public that the movie poster for King Arthur in 2004 had edited her breasts to appear fuller and bigger. She states that “our society is so photographic now, it becomes more difficult to see all of those different varieties of shape.” Knightley preaches about the idea that society should not be manipulated by the mass media and entertainment industry of the perfect woman body. However, Photoshop is so widely used in all sorts of media that society and many women have been brainwashed to search for the impossible. The young actress is irritated as a feminist that the majority of Hollywood movies reflect only what the general norm wants and identifies with.

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence openly admits that she will never starve or go on a diet for a film role to display her stance on Hollywood standards of women. Lawrence shares her story with the society that according to the general Hollywood standard, she is considered fat. Despite these comments, she doesn't slim down for the a film role and she encourages females to not succumb to what media tells them. Lawrence wishes to be a good role model for all her fans from The Hunger Games: “I don't want little girls to be like, ‘oh, I want to look like Katniss, so I’m going to skip dinner.’” Even if one wants to achieve an appealing body image, Lawrence makes it clear that the body should “look fit and strong, not thin and underfed.” Her emphasis on a healthy diet while trying to slim down is makes an important distinction to women that it is absolutely normal to want to be skinnier but to do so in a healthy manner. She discusses her eating habits and personal life in a interview, sharing that she is the only actress who does not have anorexia rumours. Her modesty and honesty inspires women to accept their bodies, no matter what shape and size. Jennifer Lawrence demonstrates she is very comfortable about her body figure. Confidence and comfort should be a woman's priority.

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet

On the 2003 GQ cover, the body size of the actress Kate Winslet was extremely reduced. When she saw the cover of GQ, she expressed her discontent "The retouching is excessive. I do not look like that and more importantly I don't desire to look like that,” By doing so she emphasized the positif perception she has of herself. Moreover, her critic of the GQ cover underscores that actresses and models do not desire to look the way they are shown by media.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2643777.stm

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga

The well known singer Lady Gaga argued against the outrageous utilization of Photoshop at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards, in 2013.As a matter of fact, she specially spoke against a picture of her displayed on the cover of Glamour magazine "I felt my skin looked too perfect. I felt my hair looked too soft. I do not look like this when I wake up in the morning," Lady Gaga explained. She urged young people to "fight back against the forces that make them feel like they're not beautiful" and outlined that the fact that unreasonable beauty standards were printed on the covers was an offender. She argued as well "It is fair to write about the change in your magazines. But what I want to see is the change on your covers... When the covers change, that's when culture changes." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/feminists-give-photoshop-the-middle-finger-fckh8-ad_55dc92cbe4b0a40aa3ac3c09

Beyoncé

Beyoncé

Modeling for H&M's swimsuit collection, the pop star Beyoncé, forbade the brand to retouch her body on the picture. She insisted that only un-doctored photographs would be released. Therefore, on the final photographs that were published her body is as it is in reality. http://www.businessinsider.com/beyonc-outraged-at-hm-photoshop-2013-5

Men and Photoshop

The use of Photoshop with images of men and males celebrities are often left out of the discourse, suggesting that it is not necessary to alter male images in order to find them attractive. An article in Cosmopolitan magazine, “19 Famous MEN Before & After Photoshop,” reveals images of popular male celebrities that do not seem to be extremely altered, portraying Photoshop as simply a way to remove fine lines and wrinkles from male images. Comments on the article also suggest that many prefer men before digital alteration, implying a sense of “realness.” However, some commentators have suggested that women “would look scary” without image enhancement.

Photoshop in other media

Photoshop is not only used in magazines, but also has a significant impact on various media such as music videos, Hollywood movies and posters, and advertisements for companies like Target. Modern technology enables companies to abuse Photoshop to alter their company's image while transforming physical standards of women.Photoshop has reached to all different forms of media including commercials. There has been a movement to change the way that photoshop can be used in advertising. Since the end of World War II there has been a movement in commercials and advertising as the "beautiful" perception of woman is when they are thinner.

A House bill would seek to create regulatory framework for Photoshopped images in advertising

There has been several mass petitions to have some legislation placed on the use of photoshop, one of the petitions, "weapons of mass perfection", which was established in 2014 and sought to raise awareness amongst the general public about the flawed perceptions that the advertising industry tries to perceive to the general public.

Photoshop in Advertising

Within the advertising world, there seem to be two extremes in terms of Photoshop use. On one side of the spectrum, there are companies that rely heavily on Photoshop, while others completely reject the idea and instead use real photographs.

Advertising using Photoshop

There are quite a few companies that use Photoshop heavily in their advertisements. These companies tend to use sex appeal in their advertisements, as well as show a very specific body type that is not healthily attainable for a large percentage of the population. As mentioned above, this can lead to low self esteem and poor body image in young women, and unrealistic expectations for how women should look. Some examples of companies that Photoshop their models are Target, Victoria's Secret, and many makeup and perfume brands. However, some fashion brands such as Ralph Lauren regret their outstanding use of photoshop and apologizes about those.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1219046/Ralph-Lauren-digitally-retouches-slender-model-make-look-THINNER.html

Several brand aside from the fashion industry also use photoshop to make their products appeal to their customers. 

McDonalds

In 2013 McDonalds underwent scrutiny when some customers were complaining about how the products that they were receiving did not look anything like the pictures that were in the store.

McDonalds Burger In the Store Vs In the Photo

The advertising industry is reaching a point where consumers no longer believe that the product they are receiving is what was advertised to them. This could potentially lead to a sense of distrust and dissatisfaction between the consumer and the company they are purchasing from. In a industry where the goal is to portray the "perfect" version of the product. When the consumer receives the product and does not meet their satisfaction it could prevent the consumer from making purchases in the future. McDonalds addressed the question and explained why their products look different in the store and in their pictures. They claim that "What you see in the store is made in a matter of minutes, What you see in the photos take a matter of hours to produce in the studio ... We want our consumers to know what is inside the product that they are receiving"

Target

Target is an American retailer that operates massive retail stores across North America selling variety of goods. The corporation has edited images in their advertisements to give female models unrealistic features like thigh gaps and missing body parts. Looking at the pictures carefully, those swimwear female models have had their arms, legs, and bottoms edited to illustrate how skinny they are. Target’s photo editing on these images outraged many customers, shoppers, and feminists on how unnatural the models look on their website. The corporation edited the images in such a way that the already-slender models appear even skinnier “with sharp thigh gaps and skeletal limbs.” The models featured on Target's website that are "Photoshopped" look like they are in their early twenties or late teens which exacerbates the issue. This manipulates on how young teenage girls think about their bodies and negatively imposes their goals of obtaining the perfect figure. Target removed the offensive images on their website and apologized to the public shortly after the news had spread to many media outlets.

Advertising without Photoshop

Many companies, specifically in the past few years, have rejected beauty standards and shown real women in their advertisements. Some examples of these companies are Aerie and Dove.

Aerie

Aerie is a brand owned by American eagle outfitters that specializes in lingerie and lounge wear. In early 2014 they launched their 'Aerie Real' campaign, which promises to only show unretouched images of their models. This campaign's slogan, "The real you is sexy" attempts to promote body positivity in it's young consumer base by letting them know that you don't need to be perfect to be beautiful. Emma Roberts, a famous actress, is the face of the campaign, and on their website she is shown without any retouching.

Dove

Dove is a worldwide beauty and skincare company that prides itself on showing "Real Beauty". It's first campaign was launched in 2004, with a worldwide campaign showing real women in all of their advertisements. The second phase of their Campaign for Real Beauty began in 2005 with a series of advertisements featuring six women that are unconventionally beautiful to show that the stereotype of only thin women being beautiful is not true. Dove has also published multiple videos showing how Photoshop is used to transform bodies and to promote self-esteem in young women. More recently, they have focused on the stigma of aging, and featured unaltered photos of older women in their advertisements.

It is interesting to note however, that these Dove commercials have had some negative impact in using realistic images of women and average-sized models. Studies have suggested that this only served to highlight the difference of looking “average,” emphasizing that non-altered, average women are different from the ideal “thin” woman.

Benefits of Photoshop

Although most people consider photoshop as a negative creation it can actually boost us economically and emotionally. Firstly, photoshop can be used as a great advertising scheme for most or almost all companies. Photoshop enables far greater sales because we become more pleased with what we are viewing which increases the circulation of money. The final result of this is that the economic cycle circulates at a faster rate. This means that workers are taking more money home to their families. The numerous jobs that have been created and use photoshop can be seen here: list of jobs that use photoshop

picture

Secondly, giving everyone a right to make their pictures look exactly how they want them to be aids in self-confidence and makes one feel better. In life the most important thing is to be happy because once that is accomplished a person's state of mind can let them do whatever they put their mind to. The many applications created to filter and edit pictures allow for far greater creativity. As creativity sparks emotions, it's important to consider all aspects of what you are viewing as alterations may have been made. Relating this back to an economic standpoint, photoshop has created many jobs for people today. From editors for fashion magazines to instagram famous users, photoshop has allowed for an expansion in marketing and job opportunities. Photoshop can be a great tool when used in a useful and creative ways.

Photoshop Law

Since people develop a distorted perception of what an ideal body should look like, altered images may negatively impact someone’s mental health, which can result in extreme body dysmorphia, and eating disorders. A Photoshop Law has been created in Israel on January 1, 2013 that requires models to provide medical proof that they have a body mass index (BMI) of at least 18.5, and additional regulations that requires digital enhancements on models to be specified.

International attention has been given to this law, with hopes that young women will be positively impacted and will be able to think critically of images produced in magazines and advertisements. The main goal of this law was to change attitudes and perceptions that “thin is beautiful,” although some critics of the law have suggested that this law only damages careers of models who are naturally “thin due to genetics.”

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