We are so used to images all around us being Photoshopped that we usually don’t bat an eye at them. Sadly, usually, pictures of women suffer from way more editing than pictures of men. And again, we’re so used to this that we barely ever think about it. Well, until this Photoshop expert posted videos where she edited men’s images as much as women’s. And the difference made people on the internet realize what a terrible double standard there is out there.
More info: TikTok Part 1 | TikTok Part 2
TikToker did a feminist service by showing what would happen if men were photoshopped as much as women are, and the videos went viral
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
She took magazine covers and removed as many “unattractive” features, such as blemishes and wrinkles, as possible – giving the man’s face the same treatment women usually get
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Image credits: caroline_in_thecity
Recently, videos of men being photoshopped the same way women usually are in magazines and other kinds of photos have been circulating on TikTok. Currently, the more popular one has 1.5M views.
The videos showed how much “smoother” men would look if their faces in photos endured the same editing that women’s faces and bodies do. In fact, it could be said that these heavily edited photos have a little uncanny valley feel to them – these faces are way too polished to be real! The sad thing is that women are edited like this on a daily basis.
All these videos were posted by TikTok user @caroline_in_thecity. She’s a Photoshop expert, most of whose videos on the platform are focused on all things related to photo editing. At the time of this article, she has over 115K followers.
Watch the most popular video here
@caroline_in_thecity I definitely think about this everytime i see a cute little wrinkles on ‘silver foxes’ and smoothed doll skin on women the same age. #pedropascal #maybeitsphotoshop #photoshop ♬ Makeba – Jain
Ever since its first version’s release back in 1988, Photoshop has been steadily becoming an integral part of our lives. Especially in the entertainment industry. For example, Photoshopping people’s bodies and faces to fit a certain trend of that time.
That prompted Photoshop to be critiqued for promoting unhealthy body image, mostly in women. It does so by promoting an unrealistic body that is not possible to achieve naturally. At this point, we rarely get to see real bodies in advertisements, magazines, and other similar mediums.
Women feel pressured to look a certain way, to have that “perfect body”, which can only be achieved with unnecessary plastic surgery or developing an eating disorder. And when these ideals aren’t achieved, women develop anxiety and insecurities about the way they look.
You might wonder why various companies employ Photoshop in such a destructive manner. Well, one of the theories for that is that retouching in advertisements is done to create an aspirational beauty ideal, which inspires women to buy more products.
Or it could be understood the other way around. Showing the perfect image makes women feel bad about themselves, and so they buy more beauty products.
And so, when the videos of men getting as much Photoshop as women usually get went viral, people suddenly understood how they have been preconditioned to view men getting older as a thing that makes them more attractive. They see images of men getting older in advertisements or magazines, so the eye is used to that. At the same time, women getting older are usually not shown as much, since usually all signs of “imperfection” are deleted no matter what they age they are.
To avoid being fooled by photoshopped images, there are some tips you can take into account when doubting a picture’s authenticity. The most common are:
- Warped or distorted things around the edited object or person;
- Unnatural shadows or inconsistent lighting;
- Unrealistic reflections.
You can also look for more advanced aspects giving away that the image is edited, such as compression quality levels. Or simply use programs that detect Photoshop on the image. So, be safe out there and don’t trust any perfect images you see – they’re more than likely not realistic anyways.
“This is terrifying”: the videos worked as a wake-up call for people online as they understood why men seemed to be getting more attractive with age, while women didn’t
