Advertisers send manipulative messages to American girls and young women about what the ideal model of beauty looks like and what they need to do to become beautiful. The American cultural conception of beauty often promoted and reinforced in the media reveals a warped vision of beauty.Perhaps the best way to begin expressing what a really beautiful woman looks like and how a woman can become beautiful is to first describe what beauty is not.
Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty has produced the Evolution Film that demonstrates why Americans have a distorted image of beauty. The animation shows how the image of a girl has been changed into something she is not. (Men are affected by these images too because the images shape the way men think about beauty, including the beauty of women.) Also check out this GirlPower - Retouch webpage. Click on the picture of the cover girl to see what she really looks like. (You may have to click the image a couple times for the process to begin.) Deconstruct the altered photo step by step.
Copyright © 2007 by Dana S. Kees. (The Palm Leaf is a painting by William Bouguereau, my favorite European artist.)
