In light of the recent Ralph Lauren photoshopping debacle, I thought it appropriate to share this video made by the people at Dove in correlation with their Campaign for Real Beauty program. Since 2004 Dove has been on a mission to debunk modern beauty myths and replace them with strong self-esteem and pride in girls and women around the world.

The photoshopped image of former Ralph Lauren model Filippa Hamilton that started the current debate.

The mission of the Campaign is to open up the topic of beauty for discussion and redefine the ideas of what is beautiful through print and television advertising, events and fundraisers. Dove has been using real women in their commercials and print ads for years and to much critical acclaim. Glamour recently jumped on the “real-size” bandwagon by first featuring a photo of size 12 model Lizzie Miller in September and, after the flood of both positive and negative feedback, have followed it up with a November editorial featuring 7 more curvy ladies. Although we all understand that recognized standards of beauty are way out of whack, we can’t seem to make headway in turning things around. Much of the power that defines these standards lies in the hands of fashion designers, editors, advertisers and marketers who feel that they are doing no harm in giving the public what it wants (the photoshop team who sent out that scary bobble-headed doll version of Ralph Lauren model Filippa Hamilton probably thought they were knocking that one out of the park! ). And while I’m uncomfortable being able to visually count every bone in a girl’s ribcage, I can’t say I’m at all comfortable viewing a plus-sized model naked either. It’s shaky ground everywhere you turn. Another interesting twist in the debate is that a Journal of Consumer Research study found that when overweight women view photos of models who are the same body size and type, they are still conflicted with self-esteem issues. One explanation is that even though they might match up to the average woman in body size, plus-sized models are still models: beautiful girls with clear skin, good genes and shiny hair. Often weight isn’t the only thing girls are comparing themselves to while flipping the pages of a magazine, perfect noses, elongated necklines and symmetrical features are all beauty standards that not everyone possesses and yet of all of them we focus on weight the most because it is the easiest to manipulate.

I think the power of this video speaks for itself: sped up frames of the process a team of people go through in order to get one woman looking “picture perfect”. I think if everyone got a glimpse of the work that goes into getting that flawless image on a magazine page perhaps we’d all think a little differently. Or maybe we wouldn’t. Maybe the self-esteem issues that a lot of us have don’t stem from any of these things at all…maybe these crazy standards of beauty are so engrained in our psyche that it’s impossible to think any other way…

As Dove started their Mission to open up debate about beauty, I want to hear what you have to say about self-esteem, standards of beauty and how you think they are effecting you, the people in your life and society in general. Nothing is off limits, bring me the good, the bad, the undernourished and the overweight. We’re all bombarded with body image issues everyday and I want to know how you choose to deal or not to deal with it, or if it even registers as a priority to you. This situation is obviously going to affect some people more strongly than others, for some it won’t even be an issue at all, but everyone’s two cents is valid whether you’ve dealt with self-esteem issues or you think the whole thing is a crock of shit, I want to hear it all.

via TheMissLinds, 16 October 2009 6:18pm | |