This morning on TV I was watching Good Morning LA and they featured a segment about some girl that wrote a petition to stop Photoshopping models in magazines. And for whatever reason it had gained in popularity and acquired more signatures.
Last time I checked marketing is marketing. I also see Photoshopped Big Macs on posters and yet not one time have I been to MCDonalds and my Big Mac came close to looking like its picture ad.
I am not sure why our society is so bent on blaming outside sources for any and everything. To blame a Photoshopped picture for our personal foibles is beyond me. We should blame our parents or ourselves. My job as a parent is to teach my children how to look within themselves what their true worth is. I do not teach my children to be like someone else or even look like someone else. You teach your children to work hard for what they want. If you want to look and feel healthy exercise and I get that we are not all the same however does the person wanting marketers to stop Photoshopping models know that? In marketing they come up with ads that are enticing to get you to buy their products. It is not there for us to try and look and strive to be like the models.
Don't get me wrong. I commend the eighth grader for speaking what she feels but honestly does she really know why she feels the way she does. We are all surrounded by fitness and beauty. And I agree many of us do try to strive to be fit and attractive. However does not Photoshopping a picture really fix you inside. Truth be told young women will still strive to want to be like the model in the magazine. So what now? What is next? What will we blame now that the Photoshopping is gone? What will we blame because we don't feel good inside?
Before there was Photoshop there have always been men and women that have looked a bit more fit and more attractive than most (in societies eyes)
Are we now going to tell photographers to stop taking pictures of those people? It makes no sense.
Why didn’t the girl start a petition to start helping people men and women how to look within themselves? Start a petition to help men and women with self-esteem issues rather than to pass blame where it is not warranted. Why? Because it is easier to pass blame then look at yourself.
Why don’t we just educate our children and let them know to be comfortable with who they are? Instead we teach them not to be accountable, pass the buck, to make it someone else’s fault.
Let’s stop putting blame on something else. If we are not in the best of shape, (in our own eyes) -workout. Make your own goals. Be yourself. That should be the message we are sending to our children.
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Personality is everything. You can be drop dead gorgeous but if you have the personality of a rock some may not find you so attractive.
Stop putting blame where is should not be. Take ownership. We are all different. Embrace who you are and stop trying to be someone else. It is not your life if you are striving to look and be like someone else.
I am not trying to offend anyone I am just trying to be real. Let me know if I am wrong and what your reasoning may be to blame Photoshopping a models picture and it making you feel less than who you are.
This is merely my opinion however, we can keep taking away things that make people feel bad about themselves that isn't that just a bandaid. If they are so determined to be like someone else because they don't who they are – it will still haunt them. How about we work on that?
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