Do you agree with re-touching photographs used in magazines of women?

Question

I feel this sets an impossible status which girls and women feel they need to achieve. Children as young as eight or nine are now wearing make up and believing that skinny is beautiful. Is this the way you want your children to grow up?

Answer 1

So who says that photos MUST be a real interpretation of what people look like?  Those old oil paintings in galleries are touched up too, blemishes left out etc. The problem is that we accept it. We should be either not buying these mags or teaching our kids to ignore this marketing ploy.  

Answer 2

Parents must take responsibility.  Children should not be exposed to media that can have such a negative impact unless the parents have taken the time to give explanations about what they are seeing.  If a child is too young to understand, then their exposure should be limited.

Edit:  I have 6 children and I have yet to have  one who is so young that he/she could not understand an explanation of retouching even notice such things.    By the time a child is mature enough to notice these things that child should be educated about them.  Their exposure should be limited (not buying such magazines for 10 year old girls), but they can not be completely shielded, it's impractical.

Answer 3

I think it's wrong.  It does set up impossible standards for women.  Even the subjects of those touch ups have made comments.  Kate Winslet said something and so did a tennis player whose arms were pumped more than would be normal.

Answer 4

It,s vicious circle we buy the mags they print and sell by buying we support it

Answer 5

NO!

Answer 6

If they have to Photoshop a model/celebrity until she's unrecognizable, what's the point?

Answer 7

I think if the photos are retouched it should have to be stated on the photo in letters big enough to read. That would be a good reminder to all that this is fake!

Answer 8

When I was eight and nine, I was chasing my brothers around with sticks.

It drives me insane.  It really does.

Not only am I strongly against the retouching of women, I am against it for men too.  These days, little boys are put under a lot of pressure to be "buff" enough- it's not just women who are affected by this practice.

EDIT:

Don't get me wrong- exercise is a good thing.  I just think six-packs on 10-year-olds are a bit excessive.  I've heard of boys who are too embaressed by their "lack of muscle" that they refuse to go swimming.

Answer 9

I despise it, actually. A friend of mine moved to the UK for a work/holiday experience. He's a graphic designer/computer nerd and was running out of funds and desperately needing work - any work. To his disappointment, the first job he could get was airbrushing models in magazines. He hated it, for the same reasons you mentioned.

The interesting thing for me, was that I met him in the UK for a little holiday myself, and he showed me the incredible amount of work these people do to make the models look "perfect". I saw a few before and after images of these models, and they looked completely different.

What that means, is that many children and women constantly strive to look like these models, even though there is nothing "real" about their supposed "perfection". Young men and women are killing themselves (literally) to look like something that doesn't actually exist. They keep hoping they will reach this perfection, but they will never succeed. How could they? It doesn't actually exist.

Speaking about imagery and children, another major issue I have, is the incessant need for young female children to look *s**y* While wanting to look *grown up* has always existed, the difference today is how prevalent this need to look s**y has become. The sexualization of children is so entrenched in our society, that shopping with my 9 year old niece for clothes means that I have to explain to her (on deaf ears, and many times per shopping trip) that wearing a T shirt with the words "tease" probably isn't a good idea. She explains that all her friends were wearing mini skirts, and unfortunately, she's right. And for many of them, they  only *just* cover their genital area.

I went to a local charity event a while ago, which showcased swim suits. Women and children were parading the latest summers' fashion. What disturbed me, was the wolf-whistling that some of the men in the audience were doing. I wasn't shocked that this was happening when the women were on the little cat walk, but I started to feel nauseous when they were also wolf-whistling the 8-10 year old girls in their bikinis.

I recently came across a blog, written by a man who believes that children such as little Jon Benet Ramsey (the 6 year old beauty pageant who was murdered in the US in 1996) was in fact, a p**** tease, deserved to be murdered, and was saddened that she never experienced s*x with a man, at her tender age before she was killed.

Linkie - http://bobstruth.blogspot.com/search?q=j...

The frightening thing, is that this man has many fans, who wholeheartedly agree with his position.

I can only hope that the trend to sexualize children, and the practice of putting such importance of beauty on children will stop. I doubt this will ever happen, though.

Answer 10

It just looks stupid, they don't look real at all. They take their whole personality away with re-touching. Just be honest with kids, tell them the truth. Let them make up their own minds and form their own opinions with the facts you give them. We all learn from our mistakes, it's part of the jouney. Children have to learn their own morals and standards.

Answer 11

whoever has children in this day and age is a fool.

Answer 12

No, because it does not reflect reality.

It is not just people that are re-touched, either.

Food, home care products ~ everything is re-touched and 'styled' to look better than reality.

It presents an unreal world that no-one can hope to match up to.

Cheers :-)

Answer 13

yea its wrong.

Answer 14

I agree with you, and suspect that all those Plastic Surgeons amongst us must love the whole thing.

The world is just 'pushing Clients' at them.

Sash.

Answer 15

I hate it. Little girls are supposed to worry about what games they're going to play with their friends, or which toy is popular--not which brand of make-up is best or what clothes will make them look thin.

When I was that age, I was obsessed with Pokemon. I didn't give a d**n what I looked like, and I was so dorky looking.

Goodness me, you should see those little girls up in South Carolina. They live in some special community. Their mommies dress them like little hookers. It's digusting.  

Answer 16

i think its silly, but wat can we do?

Answer 17

If they aren't going to depict people the way they actually look, they might as well have cartoon drawings. It's just stupid and cynical.

Answer 18

No, I think it's getting out of hand.

When I was nine, I was into pokemon and cartoons, not America's Next Top Model and diet plans :[

Answer 19

Absolutely not. The more people think those pictures are real, the more attainable they think those looks are. That sets a dangerous precedent.

Answer 20

have no problem with it, but like with all things I think people need to be educated about what is going on.  I taught middle school Health and did a whole unit on things like this.  I am so glad I did it.  Many of the students, especially girls were amazed at how normal most people in these ads look.

Like most things, it is not about stopping something or censoring it, it is about educating people about it.

Answer 21

I agree with the Mrs. that a great way to protect children is to do a show and tell so they know how unrealistic the images are.  Let them see what is done to the pictures, or how abnormal the models' figures really are.  Get them to dissect the messages in the ads and bring them out of the dim nooks and crannies subconscious into the harsh light of day, where they can be examined critically.  

I don't think censorship of fashion magazines etc... is really the answer.  I like that magazines can, for the most part, print whatever they like.  If I don't like the ideas that a magazine is selling, I won't buy it.

Answer 22

Im a lad, but i think it sets a real bad image. I mean theres nothing wrong with showing off someones beauty, but it isn't beauty if there face and/or body has to be changed to look better is it? I agree with what you said.

Answer 23

It's not just Kate Winslett who complained when a picture of her was touched up. Keira Knightley also did the same thing when her b*****s were enhanced for the poster to her latest movie.