The Retouched Face of Perfection

Today in the media, with the advancement of technology in our world, the way young women are being portrayed is becoming less and less realistic. The reason for this is mostly due to photoshop and drastic alterations that are made to images of women that get put out to the public, such as magazine covers and advertisements.

Basically ALL images in magazines nowadays are edited to SOME extent to portray what is supposedly the definition of female perfection.

“the feminine ideal is tanned, healthy slenderness, with no unsightly bumps, bulges or cellulite, and bodily and facial perfection that results from hours of labour: exercise, makeup and hair care” - Coward, 1985

The more that females are openly falsely represented like this, the more this supposedly 'perfect' image becomes accepted to be the norm.

The consequences for teenage girls viewing these standards of fake and altered beauty, is that they think that they should strive to be just as perfect as the women they see in these magazines, when in reality they will only end up failing because the images they're seeing aren't even real! The goals they set for themselves to look like the women they see in magazines are unachievable because they're fake, so the girls will only end up disappointed.