My cousin who is in 2nd grade is trying to diet. When I asked her why, she responded she wants to look like the Victoria’s Secret models on the magazine covers.  Photoshopped images are affecting kids as young as 8 years old. Photoshopping images affects women's self esteem by causing them to want unrealistic bodies, giving them eating disorders, and put themselves down.

First of all, photoshopping alters women’s self esteem by making them want unrealistic bodies. An article written by Public Relation News states, “87 percent of U.S. women are unhappy with at least one body part. One in every five women has plans to pursue cosmetic procedures, and one in every three would consider it”.  When women see the bikini models, they immediately become insecure. They think about what they were maybe once picked on as a kid. When they see no stomach fat and a curvy woman, they want to go on an extreme diet. Emily Roberts, a successful author on self esteem states, “80% of adult women polled said images of women on TV and in movies, magazines, and ads make them feel insecure about appearance”.  Over half of the women polled claim that the way women look on ads and other ways to view pictures feel poorly about themselves after. The photoshopped images make women see a curvy girl with a thigh gap, no stomach fat, and toned muscles. In reality, the model in the picture looks just like the girls around us. : “But the practice of retouching, once largely confined to fashion spreads and advertisements, has become much more common in recent years across all editorial photography, according to many industry professionals” (Haughney). With photoshopping becoming common throughout magazines and ads, more and more people are seeing the pictures. With more people seeing the images, more people’s self confidence is declining. Some people may believe that the photoshopped images motivate people to work for the body that they see on the magazine covers. However, eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia are also a possibility. People would want to see a faster result, causing them to lean towards starving themselves. In closing, altered images affect the way people view themselves by causing them to want flawless bodies.

Secondly, editing images of models and celebrities affects people’s self esteem by causing them to starve themself. Emily Roberts, a psychotherapist was speaking about one of her patients when she stated, “Bailey has been one of my most memorable clients to date. At 12 years old, she came into treatment weighing 62 pounds”.   The average weight of a 12 year old girl is 93 pounds. That means that she was 31 pounds underweight! She started starving herself because she saw herself as fat compared to famous people. The Dove Self-Esteem Fund reveals 71% of girls with low self-esteem feel that their appearance doesn’t measure up; including “not feeling pretty enough, thin enough, stylish enough or trendy enough,” compared to the images they are exposed to in popular media.  Over half of the women polled state that they felt as though they do not meet the expectation that magazines set for women. If photoshopping was not so common in the world, we would have an extreme boost in confidence found in women.  More and more proof is being shown that women’s mental and physical health is linked with how women are shown in the media (PR News). Women in the media are shown as having no fat, curvy, thigh gap, and toned muscles. What most people do not realize is that there are different body types. Girls with an hourglass shape is not going to be able to look like someone with a rectangle shape body naturally. When the photoshopped images combine the best features of everybody, they make average people feel depressed. This depression could lead to women starving himself. There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that how women are portrayed in the media is linked to their mental and physical health (PR News). This should not be true, but it is. The way women see themselves should have no association to edited images. Women’s unstable mental health is going to most likely lead to eating disorders which include bulimia. They begin to starve themself because they want to look like the models, which decreases their physical health. Another opinion is that there has to be other factors to developing an eating disorder. To answer this, one can point out that one reason that one person would want to starve themself is enough. Finally, edited images cause people to want to starve themself. It should be illegal to do major changes to pictures.

To begin, fixing flaws on media will impact women’s self esteem by making them depressed.  According to Huffington Post, photoshop is becoming more and more popular, celebrities are beginning to ask not to have their photograph photoshopped.   The celebrities believe that altering their body would make people think that they’re insecure about their bodies even though they may not be. The photoshopped pictures takes average looking people and turns them into a fit yet petite or buff superstar. When civilians see these altered pictures, they think they’re doing something wrong and become insecure. Not only does photoshopping the celebrities put them down, but it also puts the people who see’s them down. An article from the New York Times says,  “But the practice of retouching, once largely confined to fashion spreads and advertisements, has become much more common in recent years across all editorial photography, according to many industry professionals”.  Most magazine cover photos are majorly edited. Women will always compare themselves to the women in the picture. Thus, making themselves feel like they are not worthy enough to be on the cover of a major magazine like the models. Photoshop causes eating disorders, mental issues, and flawless bodies (Huffington Post). Mental issues are linked directly to how one feels about themself. With the photoshop option, models and celebrities are made to be flawless, it is understandable how a woman would want to change herself after seeing an unblemished woman. In total, photoshopping makes woman feel disgusting about herself since she compare herself to the magazine cover.

As aforementioned, photoshopping should be made illegal without the knowledge of the picture being edited. This is because photoshopping causes woman to want unrealistic bodies, develop eating disorders, and feel depressed. A woman’s self esteem is one of the most crucial characteristics of herself. If she feels disgusting about herself and never satisfied about what she looks like, it is a possibility she want to hurt herself. Imagine if it was your own daughter trying to live up to these unrealistic standards?

Work Cited
"New Study Reveals One in Five Women Plan to Pursue Cosmetic Surgery."New Study Reveals
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"Dove." Our Mission. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
“Self-Esteem and Girls: The Media's Role | Building Self-Esteem - HealthyPlace." Building
SelfEsteem Raquo. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
Haughney, Christine. "Who Can Improve on Nature? Magazine Editors." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 20 July 2012. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
Diller, Ph.D. Vivian. "Is Photoshop Destroying America's Body Image?" The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.