Massive graphic manipulation of supermodels contributes to poor self-esteem and warped body image.

[azurelunatic]

Please to be thinking of supermodels as shown in magazines as cartoons. Please to realize that the average human being looks about as good as a supermodel before the makeup and the photoshop-type manipulation.

I think that it's worth the time for everyone who has a poor self-image, especially about their face, to have a professional makeup artist (I got attacked by some theatre friends of mine in college) go over their face and turn it from average into spectacular, just to demonstrate a) that it can be done, and b) what it takes to do it.

People with supermodel looks generally work at it with the same intensity that someone with normal interests puts into their hobbies and career. In channel, there was discussion about how some girls very carefully plan the first time that their boyfriend sees them without makeup. That concept just scares me to death. It's OK to have skin. It's OK to have pores. It's OK to have a complexion that is not perfect. It's OK to have hairs out of place. It's OK to have lips that are shaped a little weird and have funny wrinkles and are too big or too thin or asymmetrical. It's OK to have pimples. It's OK to be HUMAN, for crying the fuck out loud. You want to what, be an android?

http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/blonde/blonde1.html
http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/bikini/bikini1.html

http://demo.fb.se/e/girlpower/retouch/retouch/index.html -- "Be critical and do not compare yourself to someone who has gone through twenty hours of retouching."

http://wcg.livejournal.com/342783.html

http://www.glennferon.com/portfolio1/index.html

Comments

[kdorian.livejournal.com]

I see your photos and raise you a video! This comes from Dove's "campaign for real beauty": Evolution

*Facepalm*

[kdorian.livejournal.com]

Which is here.

If you go "inside the campaign" and click "Playing with beauty", you can see what real women would look like transformed to the proportion of "toy figurines".

[azurelunatic]

Ooo, that's a classic, thank you.

I was plotting to collect all the resources on this I could think of in one general spot, so next time someone asks me where I put it, I'll have it. (I found one of them by Googling myself and the keywords I thought I used, but I wanted to find more of them next time.)

[kdorian.livejournal.com]

Good thought!

[kokuten.livejournal.com]

heh.

Thankyou for making me think.

[azurelunatic]

You're welcome.

After watching the popular kids in high school and taking notes on what they did to be popular, I came to the conclusion that I had no desire to spend that much time on being popular, and I would continue to have a life.

[kokuten.livejournal.com]

scarily similar to my thoughts on breeding, and why I have a Wii, a projector, and a whole mess of games, and a lot of fun.

instead of a sprog.

[azurelunatic]

*grin*

I did take enough notes so I'm reasonably popular at work, despite being an OMG MISFIT. But I refuse to lick toes, or act genuinely friendly to people I hate. Mere courtesy is more than enough for scumbags.

[kokuten.livejournal.com]

what's wrong with licking toes?

oh, hell, we're in the _BOARD_room, not the _BED_room.

my bad.

[azurelunatic]

There's one lickable co-worker, but he's married, and that's sort of an awkward question to ask -- "Would your wife mind if I licked you?" -- especially if the answer's no.

[azurelunatic]

Er. That is, the answer being "Yes, she would mind," or "No, you may NOT lick me."