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.
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 also is on X and Instagram). Caroline is 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.
Bored Panda reached out to Caroline and she shared some additional details with us.
She said that the thing that motivated her to embark on this project was realizing that most people don’t understand the amount of Photoshop applied in the media nowadays: “The illusion of flawless people created through Photoshop is so convincing that we perceive it as reality. I aimed to address this by creating TikToks that highlighted the peculiarity of this situation.”
She chose men because they are usually shown with wrinkles, pores, and expression lines, while women, especially those who are over 50 years old, receive extreme retouching to remove their age. And so, photoshopping men in the same manner shows a contrast in how the media portrays different genders.
After her videos went viral, Caroline noticed that men in the comments implied that this double standard is what is desired by women, and they’re not responsible for it. In her opinion, “North American societal beauty standards frequently align with the male gaze. Unrealistic beauty standards perpetuated by Photoshop affect and are perpetuated by people of all genders.”
Speaking of differentiating between real and retouched content, Caroline wishes that any type of media would require a disclaimer stating that the people in the media have been digitally altered.
Also, in her opinion, celebrities and influencers having photoshopped bodies can have a large influence on their content consumers. “I think celebrities and influencers need to recognize the impact that filters and digitally altered bodies can have on their audience. A celebrity boasting 10 million followers has significant influence, and retouching their body and face sends a powerful message to millions. Comparatively, when someone with 100 followers edits their wedding photos, the scale and influence are not equivalent.”
Watch the most popular video here
Just as Caroline implied, 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
