Are you influenced by the airbrushed images in the media? We're bombarded with photos that have been through some serious photoshopping, and even though we know they have been altered it becomes accepted as the norm. But you should not let yourself be convinced that these photos are something to aspire to. Here are some reasons not to be influenced by the airbrushed images in magazines and advertising …
One of the problems with airbrushed images is that they alter the model's looks considerably. See a model in a candid shot and you'll see that she looks very different in reality. The aim is to create the 'perfect' image, not to show a woman as she really is. So why would you want to copy an image that is largely a digital creation?
Airbrushed images are aimed at selling a product. They not so subtly suggests that if we buy the product, we too could look like that. But we won't, so don't be fooled. We don't have makeup artists and stylist at hand - and real life doesn't come with an Instagram filter.
If you saw models first thing in the morning, you'd see that they're just as bleary-eyed and messy as the rest of us. There's no such thing as perfection, so why obsess over it? And it's pretty certain that even the women we think are beautiful worry about their own 'flaws' and wish that they could change their looks without Photoshop …
So since these images are promoting unrealistic ideals, we shouldn't follow their lead and try to be like them. Enjoy these images for what they are, and don't waste your time wishing that you looked like that. It'll only make you unhappy and make you feel inadequate - and you're not.
Now, what on earth is wrong with being a real woman? And real comes in all shapes and sizes. Yet there seems to be a growing obsession with changing our natural looks dramatically. There's nothing wrong with improving on your looks a little, but never try to change yourself too much. You're fine the way you are.
Airbrushed images tend to promote an ideal that is both physically and mentally unhealthy. They slim down already slender models to the point of making them look emaciated - and often ridiculously deformed. Some pictures cut off models' arms and give them impossibly slender waists. This is so wrong that it's disturbing.
Finally, these photoshopped images lead you to focus on things that should not matter. It's promoting the idea that your natural looks are not ok, that there's something wrong with you. Focusing on your mind and what you can achieve is far more important than prioritising looks, and will have more of a long-term value than looks.
Making a few tweaks to a photo to smooth out skin tone or flyaway hairs is one thing, but most pictures in the media seem to be altered to a far greater extent. This is sending out a poor message to women, and it's especially worrying that young women think these images are normal. Do you think airbrushing should be banned?