Across America, young girls cherish playtime with Barbie dolls—well-known for depicting a slim, curvaceous woman. Yet, “Barbie sends our girls one message and it’s this: ‘you can do anything and you can be anything—[if] you look like this’ (Warhaft-Nadler).” Today, adults seem to understand Barbie’s body is of unrealistic proportions. However, in hallways of any school, you can hear girls lamenting they are “too fat.” If they aren’t comparing themselves to Barbie, who are they comparing themselves to? Enter Photoshop, editing software capable of revolutionizing our perception of beauty. As a photographer, I too fall into the trap of using Photoshop to correct imperfections. In America—from donuts to toothpaste—companies utilize Photoshop to edit images to market their products. These ads sell more than products, leaving harmful effects on young women, who compare themselves to these images. Of course, one might argue that it’s not the altered image that effects women, but the models in general. The average female fashion model weighs 120 pounds (the average woman weighs 166 pounds), setting the bar high on how …show more content…
The more time they spend watching T.V. and reading magazines “the higher the experience of body dissatisfaction” (Ashikali and Dittmar 2011). Due to the repeated exposure to media, young women believe skinny is the ideal body type so their human “nature [is] to conform; a force which even the woman cannot help” (Twain). However, if the young women are unable to physically conform to the idea of the “perfect” body type, the body dissatisfaction grows even further out of control. So, it’s understandable that as 33% of women ages 18-23 feel that the body they want is not possible for them to achieve. Fixing the effects of public opinion is not simple, but changing the popular media message can reduce the pressure that adolescents