AmericanPapist Comments
excellent video Thomas.
the sad thing is, many women strive to attain perfect beauty like we see in ads...when we all do have a 'real' natural beauty
Here's a question though - Do men prefer the first woman or the finished product?
Also, why do so many women think they are worth nothing but their physical beauty?
Bec
Several months ago I discovered the website of a professional photo retoucher, Glenn Feron. On it he had mouse rollover before and after examples. Sadly, that part of his site is down right now.
You would be amazed at the number of differences between the original and final photo. From simple things like fiximg light and shadows to removing lines or wrinkles to making body parts larger/smaller. The next time you see a beauty ad and wonder how somebody can be that stunningly beatiful or that firm or that thin or that perfect, remember that most of that is fake.
Very interesting. The campaign's actually been going on for a couple of years - I remember they photographed some "real women" (i.e. normal weight, normal looking, not models) in plain underwear as an answer to the Victoria's Secret type of ad. Not that I'm in favor of photographing women in their underwear...but it was a bit of an eye-opener. They also had a commercial during the Super Bowl.
I say kudos to Dove for making an effort to remind us that our standard of beauty is artificial. I may not always like the way they go about it (like the women in their underwear), but they seem to have their corporate heart in the right place.
I agree with St. Augustine that cosmetics are not a good thing. He along with Socrates argues that they are a lie to cover up true beauty and health.
Thank you.
I just showed that to my daughters. I have five girls (and one boy) and this is such a significant problem. I spent an hour the other night explaining to my 10 year old why she should not be ashamed or embarrased by the fact that she has a large bone structure.
The point is well taken - which woman does an honest man prefer to look at? We should do our best to be pleasing and attractive to our husbands, yes - but real moms with menstrual cycles, average builds and an average of 2 minutes in the morning to get ready can be expected to "compete" with this...thus the explosion of pornography use - even among married, Christian men.
This is why I am trying to help my girls (and myself!)develop a healthy sense of self-worth by having a solid relationship with God - that it is in being His child that we discover our inestimable value.
great post.
Amazing video!! I recall a program once on print fashion models, and one woman explained that the reason you never see people walking around who look like the models is that they don't exist! Even the models don't actually look like that. (And if you actually saw a real-life woman with hair flying all around like the girl on the billboard, you'd probably think she just needed a comb!)
Excellent!
No not excellent... AWESOME!
It is awesome!
Great video. I will show it to my daughters.
But let's not forget that a distorted perception of beauty, ultimately, follows upon dissociating ourselves from the very source of Beauty. One must know God to know the beautiful.
You can catch the madness at any local gym. Bizarre to watch possessed women running frantically on a treadmill to get no where. The new idea of beauty must be diabolical in origin. It is painful to watch Catholic women fall prey to the fanaticism of physical preservation and worse still to hear them preach it to their daughters.
This _is_ an eye-opener--fascinating. I love makeup, but I hope I'm not the only one here who makes a distinction between the little work I do in the morning to make myself presentable and professional-looking, and a job like we see here!
This willful distortion certainly does do a great deal to encourage men to spend time with porn rather than with the real, flesh-and-blood women around them. Not only are the women on the internet perfect at all times--they don't talk back or make any emotional demands. Showing more of us, more often, the mechanics behind the fantasy offers a good dose of reality to try to counter this.
What's bothersome to me is not so much the makeup; which I thought was pretty natural and just brought out the models already nice facial features, but the excessive work on the hair and especially the photo editing. She would have looked amazing with just a little hairbrushing and a little color on her face. How they went and distorted her face and body shape was disturbing. How can any woman live up to that? My bathroom mirror doesn't have photoshop capabilities.
My wife is exploring the idea of modesty, less make-up, long skirts and hair covered. It does make her more feminine and (in my unbiased opinion, naturally) even more attractive.
In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. And let not your adornment be external-- braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. etc. 1Peter 3:1-4
She is more attractive without ANY enhancements.
If the body is meant to reveal the person, creating "anti-bodies" will make it impossible to perceive this woman's personhood and uphold her dignity. The end result is degradation and pornography.
If we cannot see her original self as more beautiful, then we are being deceived, and we need to radically regain a true sense of beauty within our hearts. When our hearts are transformed, our eyes won't deceive us.
I have a game that sometimes bugs my wife. I love to point out the "corrections" to pictures in her magazines ad nauseum.
A couple of years ago a magazine clipped facial features from several people and edited them into a single face with additional enhancements. They left only one clue about this "persons" identity. They had a small inconspicuous computer chip coming out of a cloud in the background.
Excellent, I will make a short post on it. Thank you.
For all the women who see this and wonder "How do I compare/compete with this?" I suggest you get yourself a copy of "Captvating - Uncovering the Mystery of a Woman's Soul" by John and Stasi Eldrege. It's an amazing book and an honest look at women today and hwo far we have strayed from God and how He sees us.
Wow! It's really amazing seeing what a change they do to the model. No wonder it's easy to feel inadequate to the models we see--because they are fantasy women.
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