Beauty is in the eye of the...

...Digital photo editor.

Now for years upon years, I've had conversations with dozens upon dozens of women about a subject that constantly haunts them; self image and beauty. I often feel for the tens of thousands of Christian women who are torn by the "inner beauty" message of the Bible and the "outer beauty" message of popular culture and popular media. Also, for years, I've been saying that popular media is simply all about marketing, and marketing is creative deception. Every single women's magazine is a virtual cornucopia of deceit, for all popular magazines and video utilize digital effects and image retouching/manipulation to present an ideal that is entirely fiction.

The girls in the magazines are so touched up that even they look at the magazines, and their own photos, and say "I wish I looked like that". But being a boy, I'm often dismissed. Interestingly, a photoshop wizard posted a quick video of himself retouching a photo, showing just how simple and amazingly a photo can be altered. Check this out:



Now this isn't earth shattering, but I'm guessing it's the first time some people have actually seen this done. This is why magazines like Vogue have full time photoshop pros on their staff. Just some food for thought.

Remember, even the models themselves don't look as good as the covers. Culture outright and maliciously lies to women to make them chase an ideal that is fictitious, with the hope that in their struggle to get there, those women will buy all their "age defying formula" and "longer lasting mascara" they can get their hands on.

There's nothing wrong with makeup and nothing wrong with being attractive. Just stop reading Vogue and Mademoiselle as if they represented anything related to reality. If one desires to learn about real beauty, one should instead read 1 Timothy 2:9-10, 1 Peter 3:1-6 and Proverbs 31. Spread the word.

Until Next Time,

The Armchair Theologian