Instagram is full of photoshopped photos of people who desperately try to fit the imposed beauty standards. I can’t say I follow them, but it doesn’t change the fact that they exist. An Instagram page Goddess Women photoshops celebrities to fit today’s beauty standards, showing the absurdity of it all.
I’m not sure whether the artist is ironic or serious with these enhancements. But whichever is the case, he or she does a pretty decent retouching job. I believe that the account’s main point is to show off the artist’s Photoshop skills. I also think it points out just how unnecessary it is to make all women look the same.
Goddess Women’s 319k followers seem to like the page’s content. Among rare comments that don’t read “1/1,” “2/2,” or something random like that, there are those that praise both the retoucher and the beauty of the celebrities in the photos.
Bored Panda posted many photos comparing the before and after the “Photoshop intervention.” Most people didn’t have a positive reaction, and neither did I. “All the edited photos look like the same woman in different styles,” one comment reads. “Take a beautiful person and remove every single thing that gives her any individuality, anything that is considered a flaw,” reads another. And these are exactly some of the thoughts that were in my mind as well.
The very concept of “beauty standards” makes me cringe. I find that trying to standardize something so subjective and so versatile as beauty is completely absurd. First of all, I find all these women beautiful, each in their own way. And when photos of different women are edited to fit today’s beauty standards, they lose what makes them who they are. They lose individuality and blend in, becoming nothing but a “generic face.” This goes both for the celebrities in these images and for ordinary gals desperately trying to fit in.
It is also absurd, even concerning, that beauty standards change pretty often. For example, when I was in my teens, the norm was: thin eyebrows, blonde hair, and a very slim body. I had neither. Nowadays, big bums and thick eyebrows are more desirable, and some girl who looks like the teenage me is getting lots of Instagram likes. But many of those that would be popular in the early 2000s are feeling insecure as if they’re not beautiful enough. They edit their photos for Instagram, and in real life, they suffer because they don’t fit “the standard.” It’s real, folks; there have even been some studies that confirm it.
I like to think that Goddess Women’s point is to show that even the most beautiful women lose their charm and individuality when they’re edited to fit an imaginary norm. I think we’re all beautiful the way we are, and Instagram makes us feel that it’s not true. It makes us feel bad, and it’s especially harmful to young people.
So, if you know some teenagers or you are one, remember that beauty really is in the eye of a beholder. It’s subjective, and it comes in many, many forms. Don’t trust Instagram and don’t follow trends, be yourself and nurture your inner beauty above all, because that’s what it shows on the outside.
via Bored Panda
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