The Flaws of Facetune

In today's society, we don't know what is real or fake when it comes to social media. With editing apps that don't leave a trace, it’s hard to recognize when someone has edited their own photos or not.

This new era of editing photos has become a huge problem when it comes to body image. Men and women are now looking at these edited photos as the “ideal” body type. In reality, these are totally unrealistic standards that nobody could meet, not even the model in the photo.

As if that isn't bad enough, imagine logging onto Instagram and seeing that your friend posted a photo of you and edited it to make your waist smaller, legs longer, hair darker or anything else. A lot of celebrities today face this problem. We all judge ourselves enough, but someone else picking out your flaws for you and “fixing” them without your permission is a completely different story.

Here are just a few celebrities who have spoken out about their own images being edited before being published without their consent:

Zendaya

Zendaya spoke out on Instagram when an image of her was edited without her consent. Modelist Magazine took it upon themselves to shrink her waist and darken her skin. Zendaya is someone who is very open about what she looks like. She posted the original photo to show her fans and the public that she, in fact, does not look like that and those are unrealistic standards for even herself to obtain.

Lorde

Lorde was not ashamed to share this photo of her bare face during a music festival a few years back. Photographers from the show chose to clear up some of her blemishes without her consent and honestly for no reason. Lorde clapped back by stating that we all have flaws and we are beautiful no matter what. Imagine how she must have felt. By someone editing these photographs, it was almost a subtle hint that she was imperfect or needed to change. But these are things that everyone has, acne is normal, skin blemishes are normal and editing them to create smooth and flat skin is creating, yet again, more unrealistic standards.

Meghan Trainor

Similar to Zendaya, Meghan Trainor woke up one morning to find that her waist shape had been altered without her consent in one of her music videos. Meghan immediately clapped back at the edited photo, sharing the original on her Instagram account. Meghan is a very curvy woman who is proud of her body. She is always sharing her honest appearance with her fans, so it is no wonder that she was so upset by this editing fail. Her body is perfect just the way it is– we all are different shapes and sizes, and there is no single “perfect” body. Meghan also has a lot of younger fans who watch her music videos. This is sending a bad message to them that this is what they should strive to look like when that isn't even what Meghan herself looks like.

Lili Reinhart

Lili Reinhart was very openly disturbed and upset by the photoshop that occurred unbeknownst to her for Cosmopolitan Phillippines. She said that the edited image created unrealistic body standards for any woman who was reading the magazine. Reinhart is a big advocate for body positivity and the importance of self-love, and she has been very outspoken about the impacts of social media on body image. Therefore, when she was a victim of photoshop, she was the first to speak out to make sure people knew that was not what she really looked like and that nobody should compare themselves to her.

The effects of social media and edited photos on body image are huge. The more popular social media and technology are, the bigger this issue becomes. It’s detrimental to many people's physical and mental health and definitely something that should be more of a focus in today's society.