Demi Moore features on the cover of this month’s W magazine, and the image has sparked plenty of controversy, with the accusation that the process of photoshopping has distorted Ms Moore’s hips. However, bloggers have gone one step further and unearthered images that suggest that this entire image in fact may not even exist- it is likely the creation of a Photoshop artist who has layered elements of Demi’s body over a model’s body, creating a hybrid image that may or may not bear any relation to the reality of what Demi Moore actually looks like. Check out the pics below to decide for yourself.
Left: Demi Moore on W. Right: Model Anja Rubik
W Magazine (note the hip chunk missing)
Demi posted this photo on Twitter, claiming it is the original, not retouched image
Demi Moore looking amazing but realistic
Now I want to draw your attention to a shoot that Jamie Lee Curtis did at the age of 43 in 2002- she was 4 years younger then than Demi Moore is on the W cover (age 47). Jamie Lee wanted to draw attention to the fact that real women- who have had babies, lived, eaten, had experiences and were on the other side of 40- do not look wake up looking like supermodels. Even if they are supermodels. She juxtaposed this image, non photoshopped, no makeup:
Jamie Lee Curtis- no photoshop
With this image, which was the result of a team working on her for 13 hours, plus Photoshop:
Jamie Lee, after 13 hours work and photoshop
(Check out the rest of Jamie Lee’s story here.)
My point is this: don’t sell us lies. Sell us aspiration, fine. Inspiration, no worries. BUT DON’T SELL US LIES. Photoshopping, without disclosure, is a lie. Creating an image of someone that does not even exist, and selling it to us as reality is irresponsible, and even more so when that person will not admit that the image has been altered in any way.
This post is not about surgery or alteration, it about the fact that the media industry sells us something that does not represent reality, dresses it up as being something that it is not and then coerces us into opening our wallets to achieve an aesthetic that might not even exist. Cindy Crawford had some wise words last week when she told women that they should vote with their wallets. If nothing about photoshopping bothers you, fair enough, but if it does, and you want to see representations of real women in the media, you have a choice not to buy into an image designed to make you feel bad about yourself.
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