Jameela Jamil Explains Why Airbrushing Should Be Illegal By Posting Examples
British actress Jameela Jamil is best known for her role in the TV series The Good Place, however, the self-described “feminist in progress” has won much praise and support for her outspoken views on Twitter, where she uses her platform to call out various issues in the entertainment industry.
In a recent piece for the BBC, Jameela set out her views on airbrushing and the increasingly common use of filters and editing apps, which she feels “are legitimizing the patriarchy’s absurd aesthetic standards, that women should be attractive to the straight, male gaze at all costs.”
“I think it’s a disgusting tool that has been weaponized, predominantly against women, and is responsible for so many more problems than we realize because we are blinded by the media, our culture and our society,” she wrote. “I suffered from eating disorders as a teenager and so I know how damaging “perfect” images in magazines can be.”
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Expanding on her argument, she took to Twitter to give an example of the ‘weaponization’ of photoshop. Highlighting the fact that men in their 50’s are celebrated for the way they age naturally, giving them a rugged attractiveness, while women of the same age are airbrushed to within an inch of their lives.
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Someone replied with this comment
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And many people came to her defense
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But while her views do come from a good place (pun intended) and attracted a great deal of applause, there were also some who feel she might be going too far this time.
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I'm a bloke and I'm not generally outspoken or vocal about these sorts of issues. But literally everything Jameela says is true. Our minds are being warped to see cartoon characters of ourselves and not what we actually look like. Photo shopping, air brushing, all that stuff needs stopping.
Christ it's genuinely depressing the amount of comments that are along the lines of 'stop being offended by everything'. They completely miss the point. It's not about offense or feminism. It's about how lying to people, feeding them shit and telling them it's gold, is not right.
If you stop talking about something, the status quo stays the way it is, it doesn't magically stop the problem from existing.
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It's not about lying - its marketing and how women think that other's opinions of them matter. I could not care less about your angst!
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No one missed the point. Your just to stupid to understand what their talking about. No one gives a shit about this sexist bitch trying to talk about airbrushing. Sexism is just like racism, if you want it to go away, STOP TALKING ABOUT IT. (Morgan Freeman)
After such an awesome, insightful comment I can truly, in good faith, say.. Release the Kraken!!
100% agree. I remember I once asked people to give feedback on my face and then photo-shopped myself based on what they said and my own criticisms. I was horrified by the monster I created that looked like me but wasn't me. It was a depressing moment on my mentality. Photo-shopping is so poisonous it's disturbing.
Thank you. Seeing magazine covers like this absolutely destroyed my self esteem growing up, and made me compare myself to something that was completely unrealistic and unattainable. It's tough to undo the damage of this even today, and I hate it. Imagine yearning for an ideal that literally doesn't exist? Deep down I know better, but I still think about botox and stuff, getting worse and worse as I age.
Sure, but I have problems with having to listen to celebrities. These are not people I admire or that have any position of authority on most subjects, especially ones that affect the general population. It is the same when out-of-touch politicians make laws for the common people when they don't understand the common people. Do her words have credence when she actively engages in the patriarchal weaponry she decries, she's wearing tons of make up and has to do so to be presentable on air - surely there are parallels between that and photoshop, in addition to lighting and colour tones - it's all designed to make the person look a lot better than they really do. I agree that the cosmetic/magazine industry exploits the insecurities of women, but would she be complaining if she weren't an attractive young woman. Also, why is she under the assumption that people aren't already aware that whatever high end photos presented to us aren't enhanced?
Most people do admire these celebrities. That's why they're on the cover of magazines and thus depicted as someone to admire or celebrate about. And again, most people know that those photoshopped images aren't exactly what the celebrity looks like. But it's the depiction that "this is the ideal", "this is the image of perfection", "this is the face of success" that leads to mental harm. The level of anyone's attractiveness is subjective but it is often warped by the belief that any one must look like one of the people on the magazine cover. Natural features such as wrinkles become flaws and people begin to believe that if they have a even one of those blurred out features, they are ugly. It's the issue of society depicting unrealistic standards as beautiful and the image of success, not whether or not the celebrity themselves are admirable. For example. more kids are developing eating disorders and distorted views of themselves because they want to look like the societal ideal instead wanting to be beautiful for themselves
This is one of those things that I don't think is a sexism thing but a human thing. They photoshop and airbrush men and women. I saw a picture of George Clooney on the red carpet and remembered seeing him on s magazine not a month before and the difference was stunning. I'm not saying he looked bad because he didn't he just looked completely different.
I’m sure he is airbrushed but clearly not as much as women are. In most pictures of him you can see that he has wrinkles.
If airbrushing should be banned than so should plastic surgery and botox/fillers. It's the same thing. Hiding the aging with artificial means.
I think it's a little bit different though. Magazines are something so so many men, women, and children see. It's advertising an unrealistic standard. By not airbrushing photos, it's normalizing imperfection and really just normal bodies. Plastic surgery is more of a personal thing, in my opinion. And people get it for so many different reasons
I agree. Plus people with the same "flaws" will be led to believe that those features are ugly and should be changed. Aging is a natural process; why must it be hidden?
I'm a bloke and I'm not generally outspoken or vocal about these sorts of issues. But literally everything Jameela says is true. Our minds are being warped to see cartoon characters of ourselves and not what we actually look like. Photo shopping, air brushing, all that stuff needs stopping.
Christ it's genuinely depressing the amount of comments that are along the lines of 'stop being offended by everything'. They completely miss the point. It's not about offense or feminism. It's about how lying to people, feeding them shit and telling them it's gold, is not right.
If you stop talking about something, the status quo stays the way it is, it doesn't magically stop the problem from existing.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
It's not about lying - its marketing and how women think that other's opinions of them matter. I could not care less about your angst!
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
No one missed the point. Your just to stupid to understand what their talking about. No one gives a shit about this sexist bitch trying to talk about airbrushing. Sexism is just like racism, if you want it to go away, STOP TALKING ABOUT IT. (Morgan Freeman)
After such an awesome, insightful comment I can truly, in good faith, say.. Release the Kraken!!
100% agree. I remember I once asked people to give feedback on my face and then photo-shopped myself based on what they said and my own criticisms. I was horrified by the monster I created that looked like me but wasn't me. It was a depressing moment on my mentality. Photo-shopping is so poisonous it's disturbing.
Thank you. Seeing magazine covers like this absolutely destroyed my self esteem growing up, and made me compare myself to something that was completely unrealistic and unattainable. It's tough to undo the damage of this even today, and I hate it. Imagine yearning for an ideal that literally doesn't exist? Deep down I know better, but I still think about botox and stuff, getting worse and worse as I age.
Sure, but I have problems with having to listen to celebrities. These are not people I admire or that have any position of authority on most subjects, especially ones that affect the general population. It is the same when out-of-touch politicians make laws for the common people when they don't understand the common people. Do her words have credence when she actively engages in the patriarchal weaponry she decries, she's wearing tons of make up and has to do so to be presentable on air - surely there are parallels between that and photoshop, in addition to lighting and colour tones - it's all designed to make the person look a lot better than they really do. I agree that the cosmetic/magazine industry exploits the insecurities of women, but would she be complaining if she weren't an attractive young woman. Also, why is she under the assumption that people aren't already aware that whatever high end photos presented to us aren't enhanced?
Most people do admire these celebrities. That's why they're on the cover of magazines and thus depicted as someone to admire or celebrate about. And again, most people know that those photoshopped images aren't exactly what the celebrity looks like. But it's the depiction that "this is the ideal", "this is the image of perfection", "this is the face of success" that leads to mental harm. The level of anyone's attractiveness is subjective but it is often warped by the belief that any one must look like one of the people on the magazine cover. Natural features such as wrinkles become flaws and people begin to believe that if they have a even one of those blurred out features, they are ugly. It's the issue of society depicting unrealistic standards as beautiful and the image of success, not whether or not the celebrity themselves are admirable. For example. more kids are developing eating disorders and distorted views of themselves because they want to look like the societal ideal instead wanting to be beautiful for themselves
This is one of those things that I don't think is a sexism thing but a human thing. They photoshop and airbrush men and women. I saw a picture of George Clooney on the red carpet and remembered seeing him on s magazine not a month before and the difference was stunning. I'm not saying he looked bad because he didn't he just looked completely different.
I’m sure he is airbrushed but clearly not as much as women are. In most pictures of him you can see that he has wrinkles.
If airbrushing should be banned than so should plastic surgery and botox/fillers. It's the same thing. Hiding the aging with artificial means.
I think it's a little bit different though. Magazines are something so so many men, women, and children see. It's advertising an unrealistic standard. By not airbrushing photos, it's normalizing imperfection and really just normal bodies. Plastic surgery is more of a personal thing, in my opinion. And people get it for so many different reasons
I agree. Plus people with the same "flaws" will be led to believe that those features are ugly and should be changed. Aging is a natural process; why must it be hidden?