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How many women here would like to look like this? How long do you think it took her to get this way? A few minutes? A day? A lifetime?
The problem is, this woman doesn’t exist. Well, I should correct that, she does exist, but she doesn’t look anything like this. What you see on the left is the picture of a woman after a lot of makeup and hair styling– and of course, digital manipulation.
Who did this? Dove. As part of their desire to encourage women about their looks, Dove put together a presentation on YouTube to demonstrate just what goes into the looks that people see on television and billboards. Their desire, to influence young women to be happy with the way that they look and not to do things to try to make themselves look like people that do not really exist.
This is what Stephanie looked like before the process
as you can see, she looks a lot different, a lot more like the average woman than the glamorous picture at the top.
Personally, I think it’d take more than a team of makeup artists and computer technicians to make me photogenic, but I think Dove’s onto something here.
You see, we’re a visual society– having things and seeing things that no other time had to deal with. Being a visual society, we’re impacted on multiple levels by what we see.
Stephanie and other women like here exist, and they’re normal women. The problem is that through media (be it television, movies, magazines, or books) we have been inundated with images of people, especially women, that do not represent the norm. We see them so much, though, that we begin to think that the normal woman is abnormal.
This puts pressure on both women and men. Men now come to expect that there are women out there with perfect looks. They look for it, and sometimes overlook those women that have good looks because they don’t measure up to the standards that they’ve seen on display everywhere.
As for women, they acknowledge this and, instead of being content with their own looks, they try to be that perfect woman. In the end, it can lead to attempts to do things to themselves that are not healthy– all in the name of becoming the “perfect looking women.”
And then there are those stars that have personal trainers and others to help them get back into shape and into a certain look after pregnancy. These women set the example for men to expect their wives to be rubber bands and spring back into the same shape or better after pregnancy.
Take, for example, Ms. Spears. Apart from the fact that she’s divorcing her husband, the reason that she’s appearing everywhere is that she has had her look redone and is getting ready for a career comeback. Yet again, though, she’s celebrating a look and you can bet that any promotional material she puts out will have no trace of pregnancy on her.
What I really find amusing, though, is how hard it is to tell who the stars are when they’re photographed by the paparazzi and there’s no one to do all the retouches. If you look, it’s hard to tell who people are.
So, ladies out there, take heart. You too could have a look like a star– but you don’t need to go on crazy diets until you’re skin and bones, you don’t need to spend thousands on plastic surgery, you just need to hire some makeup artists and computer graphics people, or just watch this YouTube movie and enjoy how God made you.
Dove ad on YouTube:
I had seen this before and I was not surprised at all. You kind of have to figure out that those women in magazines are not that perfect. If you look closely there are absolutely no flaws on them.
Why do you think so many Hollywood starlits get plastic surgery?
I’ll never forget my first experience IRL of coming face to face with someone who I’d never seen without makeup…yikes! I’d thought she was gorgeous, and um, she wasn’t. I’ve heard stories of women who never went without makeup around their husbands…after decades…they were still waiting till he went to sleep at night to remove their make-up. Ridiculous.
It does make one wonder if you never let your fiance see you without your “face on” and hair fixed, would he be terrified on that first morning together as husband and wife? Lol. Thankfully, my dh prefers the natural look. I prefer the make-up enhanced image that stares back at me though…
This was a fascinating article! I could not believe the difference, and am almost livid at what society has done to our self-images. We are way too impressionable. I hope there are some mama’s out there raising their sons to want some Proverbs 31 women, with hearts of gold despite what their faces look like!
I knew a woman that used to go to our church that was like that– the only way that people would see her is with makeup (even if it times I think it didn’t do her the service that she thought).
It’s amazing how far we will go to try to make ourselves into something we are not.
It’s no wonder we have such high expectations of how we “should” look!!
No sweat, Meg. We need to make sure as many people as possible see that people in media are rarely as they appear. If it’s not computer retouching, it’s make up for hours on end. I’m sure still shots are the worst since they can spend the most time working on a person’s look for one picture whereas an actual movie might have some but not as much extensive work because of the number of frames to edit. However, the more I think about it, I’m sure there are computer software to fix multiple frames as well.
Amazing! I didn’t know they actually changed the physical dimensions of these women. I thought that it was all make up and lights and maybe an airbrushing in the computer. I never imagined that they are altering their neck length, and width, and the size of their eyes!! WHOA. that is amazing. I showed this video to my three year old son. I told him that the women we see on TV and in pictures in magazines are not real ladies. I made sure to tell him that it is better to be beautiful inside than outside.
Well that was an eye opener. Thanks MIN.
Mrs. Meg Logan
I thought about this the other day while at the doctor’s office. I was reading an article about a woman who had the “new” non-invasive, laparoscopic liposuction. I saw this woman who looked like your average, normal, 40 year old mom. She didn’t need liposuction…but she thought she did, because we’ve redefined what normal should look like. It’s sad. 🙁 We women think we need to look “better,” and our men have adopted a standard for physical appearance that just isn’t “doable.”
I really feel for teens these days….those without money have no way to keep up. To fit in, you must be able to afford the right hair style, hair shade, bleached teeth, airbrushed tan – and the proper miniscule clothing. And you must be stick thin. Very, very hard on young people.
I’m not trying to be crabby… 🙂 …it is just one of my pet peeves.