Reverse Photoshopping: The New, Creepy Way Women’s Bodies Are Manipulated
We’ve seen ad campaigns and magazines digitally shave off parts of women’s bodies to create unrealistic “thigh gaps” and other damaging beauty standards. Now there’s what’s being called “reverse Photoshopping” — when a magazine adds imagery to a body that wasn’t already there.
According to reports, that’s what happened to Kendall Jenner when an Australian gossip magazine, Famous, allegedly added cellulite to Jenner’s legs in order to point out said cellulite and create a body-shaming story. The headline reads “You’re too fat for runway,” and claims she’s been ordered to lose weight.
There are so many layers of wrong here, we don’t even know where to start. First, that a magazine is bullying a woman for anything that has to do with her body is invasive, cruel and damaging. There is nothing wrong with having cellulite and it certainly shouldn’t be a cause for headlines. Then, there’s the issue of digitally manipulating a woman’s body to make it different than it is. Why does this keep happening? Why can’t we just leave women’s bodies alone and let them be beautiful in every shape and size?
This is just another reminder that we live in a world where we’re constantly scrutinized, picked apart, altered, and exploited for the sake of selling stuff. It sends the message that you can’t win, no matter what you look like. It’s time to just leave women’s bodies alone, and accept that we come in different sizes. Let’s leave the digital manipulation to IKEA catalogs and leave women alone.
