Photoshop's Obsession: The Need For Perfection

When looking at magazines that contain advice on how women can perfect themselves and become more beautiful, pictures of women who are supposed to represent this flawless body image are constantly found to be exceptionally thin. Magazines specifically spreading this phenomenon include Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and Victoria’s Secret, to name a few. Of course, giving in to societal pressures is expected from the female adolescents who are exposed to these forms of media, as they feel that often times, physical attractiveness above all allows for ultimate perfection. This causes these girls to do anything in their power to attain this picture-perfect look, most of the time leading to disorders that could become potentially fatal to these teens. In an attempt to follow the crowd, adolescents look at themselves and, with the discouragement of not being as thin as the women in the pictures seen in the magazines, television shows, or movies, result in having anorexia nervosa which becomes a crucial impediment in their lives. Kathiann M. Kowalski states in the book Anorexia that “instead of encouraging teens to accept healthy bodies of all sizes, the images young people

The media portrays the average person as flawless, thin, tall, and beautiful. They advertise products that can help a person achieve what they call “perfection.” They slap photos all over the place, on billboards, magazines, and ads, showing us what a “real” person looks like. The media brainwashes us into believing that we need to meet their standards in order to achieve ultimate beauty and should we stray from the path they pave, we will not be considered beautiful. Our society places too much emphasis on our appearances, forcing many to undergo drastic changes to become “beautiful.” Many people begin to develop issues concerning their body and image. Teenagers, especially, feel the need to conform to society's view of the perfect body. They feel the need to have flawless skin, to be thin, to be tall, and to be perfect. They don't understand

Eating disorders are becoming a rising problem in many individuals regardless of their age or gender. Eating disorders are problems that revolve around abnormal eating behaviors and distorted beliefs about eating, weight or shape. They can be classified as psychiatric problems, which are considered a general medical condition. Eating disorders happen when individuals are obsessed about controlling their weight by controlling what they eat. Often, they judge their self-worth by their ability to control their weight/shape (Grilo 6). It is no secret that eating disorders are alarmingly common. Especially now, in this culture, where large corporations are “investing” in this industry as a result of their market research which can then only mean one thing – eating

One example of social networking influencing imperfect bodies is the publication of magazines. Inside Vogue, Nylon, People Magazine, and Seventeen Magazine, there lies editors’ believed beauty ideals. The issue with magazines is that they are thoroughly based on opinions and filled with peoples perspectives. Most readers do not see this flaw and are bombarded with the “perfect” body that media idolizes. Throughout American history, people have admired a skinny body and a slim figure. According to New York Times, “There has been a progression towards thinner and thinner models in ads and magazines: twenty years ago, the average model weighed 8 per cent less than the average woman – but today’s models weigh 23 percent less” (Simmons n.pag.). The dramatic increase of percentage in thinness is alarming for future generations. Not only does this mean that the body has been prioritized as more important to this generation, but to reach this high of a standard is harder. By putting ads in magazines to promote healthy weight and self worth, readers are more aware of these unattainable ideals. Though opposers may add that even if people take away commenting on media sites there will still be pictures provoking unrealistic body types. But, though this may be true, not allowing people's negative input on these pictures will be beneficial to boost ones’ confidence. As stated by Kevin Wallsten, a Berkeley graduate focusing on political science says: “anonymous comments are assumed to exert a strong influence over Internet users. The number of effects attributed to anonymous comments is long and varied. In some accounts, anonymity allows for the kind of “cyberbullying” that produces low self-esteem and feelings of alienation in vulnerable members of online communities” (Wallsten n.pag.). Together America’s society needs to promote healthy bodies by obliterating uncivil remarks added by

Theres a very fine line when talking about body images and looking at what the “in thing” is in the media. When trying to get healthy the number one thing not to do is to look at the media for health choices and image. I agree to very little to what the media has to offer about body image. One day you should be as think as a nail and the next they want you to shove roster strudels in your mouth. I do believe the media should be the last to judge anyone on the shape

Men and women nowadays are starting to lose self-confidence in themselves and their body shape, which is negatively impacting the definition of how beauty and body shape are portrayed. “...97% of all women who had participated in a recent poll by Glamour magazine were self-deprecating about their body image at least once during their lives”(Lin 102). Studies have shown that women who occupy most of their time worrying about body image tend to have an eating disorder and distress which impairs the quality of life. Body image issues have recently started to become a problem in today’s society because of social media, magazines, and television.

What is it about African wars that is so disturbing? Ishmael Beah’s memoir “A Long Way Gone” can help you come to an understanding of what it means to be human living under those type conditions. Beah’s childhood was gone. His experiences in the war stripped him of his humanity. When Beah was at the conferences far away from war, he felt like his life finally had meaning again.

“Perfection is annihilation. It paralyses us from working from the heart. Humans by nature are not perfect and imperfections are what makes the world beautiful.”

Whether it’s magazine covers, instagram, twitter, on television or just on the world wide web in general, everywhere we look we see stunning models. Models that are incredibly thin and can look good in anything. Our society is obsessed with how perfect they look, yet at the end of the day women everywhere looks in the mirror and doesn’t see the body of the girl she sees on social media. Even though women come in all shapes and sizes in nature, the expectation to have a skinny, perfect body just seems to be the expectation for our society nowadays. Society puts too much pressure on females to have the perfect body. The emphasis for a girls ideal body to be perfect, thin, but curvy at the same time affects women emotionally and causes them feelings of, body dissatisfaction, can cause eating disorders, and major psychological issues.

For years photoshop `has affected the way that people look at their bodies. People see these images and aspire to be them, when no one actually looks like the images that they see. Photoshop has people see what they want to see in themselves, when they’re actually perfect just the way they are. People are impacted from all sorts of media to have a “perfect body”. Movies, shows and, videos all should have disclaimers of unrealistic bodies so people know that it is an unrealistic body.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s shorty story “The Birthmark” coveys a message how perfections is not everything. Hawthorne tells a story of how a man who is obsessed with fixing all of failures, and will go to the ends of the earth to right his failures. The story hits on the theme of man versus the natural world, and how people will do whatever to themselves to make them look perfect. Even though people will go to great lengths to make themselves look a “perfect”, it is the imperfection that make them human.

The theme of Ambition is a universal theme because it relates to many aspects of the

A world of drastic genetic engineering, and a complete separation of the genetically elite and those naturally born seems like a scenario that will never come to be. However, this seemingly far off universe depicted in the film Gattaca, may come to be much sooner than one would expect. Gattaca illustrates a world in which genetic mutation has come to be considered the “natural” form of birth, while children born without genetic mutation have come to be considered dirty and lesser than those of genetic superiority. Although this world has nearly eliminated many forms of illness and disease, it leaves much to be desired. This world fosters elitism, hate, and segregation among other negative traits, and ultimately produces an extremely negative environment that prevents humans from reaching their true potentials. This environment is due to the excessive emphasis on perfection, lack of variation and individuality as well as, segregation as a result of genetic engineering. These are

Has people's use of Photoshop gone too far? Is altering photos to make people unrealistically skinny a good idea? For years, many photos in magazines, advertisements, etc. have been altered, making models and celebrities blemish free and thin. But in some cases of retouched photos the outcome can be horrific, making the person very unprofessional and disturbing. But making models thinner than they actually are can have bad effects on the public. Although many businesses may earn a lot of money from their photoshopped models or celebrities, they should put labels on their work, telling the public it’s been altered, and be aware of what their photos can do with young children's’ development and how it may cause eating disorders.

The following study will examine whether there is sexual objectification of women in international marketing communications. The author will focus on several academic papers related to the sexual objectification of women in advertising including: