in brief: cameron diaz photoshopped…to look bigger?
Image: Mamamia
In a truly bizarre twist of events, a before and after shot of Cameron Diaz is now doing the rounds of Internet outrage.
Contrary to what magazines usually do when they Photoshop a celebrity – tighten and tone everything to make them look smaller – these shots of Diaz show the opposite.
The actress, who is known for being a fitness advocate, has been retouched to appear less skinny.
Yes, that’s right. Diaz obviously didn’t have the fuller image that the magazine was looking for, and was subsequently given a number of alterations, which The Telegraph published, including:
‘Face: Cheeks appear filled out
Bust: Levelled
Thighs: Wider in the picture on the right
Hip: The bony definition has been smoothed away
Stomach: A fuller, more natural look
Arms: A bit more bulk in the arms and shoulders’
Not only is this level of alteration unnecessary, but it also raises a number of ethical questions regarding the fashion industry, and the magazines that publish these images.
Most readers are constantly bombarded with images of skinny models and celebrities, the kind that scream ‘This is what you should look like!’
But when a celebrity as fit as Diaz is Photoshopped in the opposite manner, to appear healthier, what kinds of mixed messages are they sending the readers?
Whatever their intentions, they’re certainly not doing the fashion industry any favours.
I really don’t think the photoshopped picture looks bigger or ‘fuller’. I think it has changed her body SHAPE including to make her waist-hip ratio lower (bigger hips compared to waist). I don’t think her hip bone has been smoothed over at all. The part that has been smoothed was not ‘boney’ it was muscly (really take a closer look – that ‘definition’ is NOT a hip bone, that is part of her abs!).
I take real issue with the idea that her body has been photoshopped to look more ‘healthy’ or ‘natural’. THIS is sending the wrong message. Her body has simply been changed to better resemble one idea of the ‘ideal’ woman’s body. This is not ‘healthy’ or ‘natural’! What we need is for the media to back off and allow women to show their real bodies, the ones that come in all different shapes and sizes. Oh, and to stop judging us on our appearance!
There seems to be this idea going around that by saying ‘bigger’ women are ‘healthier’, more ‘attractive’, or more ‘natural’ this somehow takes a ‘stand’ against the unattainable photoshopped images in the media, and contributes to positive body image. Those HORRIBLE pics going around on social media that say things like “i think these women (pic of women who resemble the ‘norm’ size i.e. size 12-14 or whatever) are hotter than these (pic of tall thin women you typically see on the runway)” is a perfect example of this. I say it is a load of shit and serves only to judge women on their looks and portray another ‘ideal’ that women are expected to live up to. It feeds into the idea that women are objects, whose bodies should be compared and evaluated.