Could PHOTOSHOPPING be creating ED issues with teens?

I think one thing that's disturbing is that since most people are being photoshopped thinner, they won't be showing the common visual signs of being very underweight, such as showing ribs and other bones.

Like, they take a healthy looking body and shrink it down to what would be an unhealthy size but without the unhealthy signs.

So I think that is a bit misleading. Like, a girl could get down to the model's measurements but by the time she did she would look a lot more emaciated.

Photoshopped model pictures and the like are actually a motivational tool to help people lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle.

It's the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. Women who hire a personal trainer do it because they want to be slim, skinny, and have that beach body they've always wanted. Very few hire one because the doctor tells them too.

No **** people work out and eat better to look better. But there's a point where unrealistic expectations occur. These celebrities with their personal cooks, dietitians, and personal trainers on staff can't look like that without needing air brushing and photoshop, so why is it okay to convey that young women need to look like that?

I workout to feel better. When I workout I have more energy and just feel healthier. Sure, I'd like to drop about 10 lb but that will happen in its own time.

In UK, cigarettes show a warning that covers like 40% of the pack about warning signs. In US, its a similar thing but in smaller size.

Why are there no laws saying that the images have been modified. I know that WE know it and a measly warning wouldn't do much but atleast it'll be a start of realizing how serious the problem is becoming (and yes, this IS becoming a problems...)

As a 19 years old girl. I know im not exactly a teenager anymore.
But i do aspire to look like the girls in magazines.
and i know its not physically possible, but that doesnt stopping me from trying.
And i know i will never be happy until i look like them.
Its just kind of the way it is. =/

As a 19 years old girl. I know im not exactly a teenager anymore.
But i do aspire to look like the girls in magazines.
and i know its not physically possible, but that doesnt stopping me from trying.
And i know i will never be happy until i look like them.
Its just kind of the way it is. =/

Guess what, sorry to burst your illusion but you likely won't be happy when you get there, especially if "there" is underweight, because you won't be able to see what you've become. Trust me, I'm as thin as many models but I don't see it. Don't tie your happiness to weight, it's a recipe for failure/an eating disorder. Speaking of, many EDs aren't from wanting to *look* a certain way but simply from tying happiness to weight. It becomes more about the number or the control than the appearance, as many people have said.

I am pro ana. (Pro Anorexia) I look up to it as thisperation. Like one day we can be those girls. They may be photoshopped a little. But there still skinny and one day ill be there.

You're proving our point here unfortunately.
I hope you get through what you're going through right now and understand that being thin doesn't equate to happiness.

Yes, without a doubt it encourages disordered eating. I suffered for years and as long as there was some alive and thinner out there I was doing the right thing. Surely there is enough natural variety with sizes they don't need to airbrush it down. It's not just that but celebrities too, for most people it's unattainable then you read how they work hard at it and that it's their job to stay thin but not everyone takes it on board that when they say that they do mean that they exercise as part of their job and that they do sometimes do it for hours, have personal trainers, cooks providing their meals. Come in to the real world where you work full time and an hour a day is impressive but doesn't seem enough compared to what you read about in the magazines. Weight loss celebrities are the biggest seller with magazines, it seems to rotate from week to week, "oh no they're too skinny" as someone that has suffered I would have taken that as a compliment not something to care about, then the next week some celebs are celebrating their "curves" - usually half of these celebrities are too skinny by the next week!

As a 19 years old girl. I know im not exactly a teenager anymore.
But i do aspire to look like the girls in magazines.
and i know its not physically possible, but that doesnt stopping me from trying.
And i know i will never be happy until i look like them.
Its just kind of the way it is. =/

TY, someone who wants to admit that Photoshopped pictures are a motivational tool for losing weight, being slim, and having a beach body. Some people are trying to tell you not to go for your goal and I'll just say, don't let the negative words get to you. If you really want a body like girls in model magazines, then you need to exercise just as hard as them with the right diet. I've met a Miss America pageant girl and she told me that s he jogs 4 miles a day as a warmup before hitting the weights with her personal trainer. I didn't ask her what her diet was, just her workout routine. I'm not advocating for you to starve yourself which I bet some people here think i might be doing. I just said to exercise as hard as one.

This is what "ana" really looks like. Muscle depleted. Body turned into a frail husk because of lack of energy from food. Constant illness. And eventual death. There is nothing here to glorify.

You dont want anorexia. You may want skinny, you don't want anorexia. Two different things.

You don't want food consuming your life. You dont want your day to depend on how much you eat. There have been, and still are lots of times where my self worth is directly related to the number of calories I've consumed. And I consider myself a "mild" case.

I know girls who dont eat and exercise off 1000+ calorie a day every day. I have a friend who is 75 pounds right now and just started another fast (her fasts are usually 15+ days). And you know what? She still thinks she's fat. She still thinks she looks like a whale.

So no, you dont "want" anorexia. And no, you aren't "pro-ana". So shut the hell up, please. You want to be skinny, and that's fine, but you dont WANT to be anorexic.

:flowerforyou:

I think the media has gone totally nuts with the how much pictures are photoshopped, and how XX celebrity has lost 5 pounds in 2 days etc.

If even models / actresses etc who are supposedly beautiful need to be photoshopped to death, then what hope is there for the normal people??? It gives the impression that its possible to be like that if you follow the 'so called diet' that these airbrushed people eat, nobody seems to understand that what they are aiming to look like actually doesnt exist.

There are tons of pictures out there of celebrities not wearing any makeup and 99% of the time they look like average women. I don't think being a celebrity is so much about looks as it is talent/luck/connections with the industry. You can hire someone to make you pretty if you have the money or the connections.

Unless you're talking about models or socialites, then yeah, that's mostly looks. But even they have dark circles and cellulite.

I grew up just fine with photoshopped models on magazines and tv.

In fact, I can guarantee that girls are saying that they are "influenced" because they are told they are. I went through a course in school which talked about propagandas and advertising in the media. School made me aware of media and I didn't grow up with any sort of eating disorder as a female teen.

Confidence in their beauty is very important... its not just to be blamed on magazines and models.

I grew up just fine with photoshopped models on magazines and tv.

In fact, I can guarantee that girls are saying that they are "influenced" because they are told they are. I went through a course in school which talked about propagandas and advertising in the media. School made me aware of media and I didn't grow up with any sort of eating disorder as a female teen.

Confidence in their beauty is very important... its not just to be blamed on magazines and models.

Oh, because you personally did not develop an eating disorder, that makes it fine for everyone? Get over yourself. You are ONE person, and you don't represent the population as a whole.

I grew up just fine with photoshopped models on magazines and tv.

In fact, I can guarantee that girls are saying that they are "influenced" because they are told they are. I went through a course in school which talked about propagandas and advertising in the media. School made me aware of media and I didn't grow up with any sort of eating disorder as a female teen.

Confidence in their beauty is very important... its not just to be blamed on magazines and models.

Oh, because you personally did not develop an eating disorder, that makes it fine for everyone? Get over yourself. You are ONE person, and you don't represent the population as a whole.

Ok, I gotta ask... why is ALL you do go around starting arguments with people? Seriously, it's getting old.

Have you forgotten Octomom and her Angela Jolie face changes?

No. EDs, funnily enough, aren't actually ABOUT "thinness"/vanity. Nobody develops a debilitating mental illness that makes them want to look JUST LIKE Angelina Jolie. Starving yourself and damaging your body are signs of deep-rooted self-hared, and I think doing it through food stems from a culture where thinness is fetishised. So, yes, airbrushing creates the CONTEXT/MEANS of self-destruction/illness, but it's not the CAUSE.

But I agree with the above poster. There are far too many overweight children - and if kids wanted to see something "ordinary", they could just go to school every day! Magazines should show beautiful pictures to give people something aesthetically pleasing and to aspire to. I agree that changing skin tones is wrong because it's inherently racist, and photoshopping models even thinner might not always be necessary, but little touch-ups aren't going to kill anyone. It's like having obese/very, very overweight models in magazines - it subliminally sends out the message that being that unhealthily overweight is "okay" and "aspirational".

I'd like to see more women of a healthy (eg. UK size 6-14) range in magazines, though, agreed.