Retouching for Good and Not Evil
If you go to any self acceptance or body image blog chances are that somewhere along the pages there will be a rant (or two, or three) about the photo retouching that occurs in magazines. Today I watched a video from TED with retoucher Becci Manson talking about her experience of retouching for good and not evil (my words, not hers) for the six months she was in Japan after the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami had devastated the region. It was refreshing to see another side to retoucher’s abilities instead of making skinny models skinnier and supposedly more beautiful. This video really shows the talent and what in my opinion should be what retouching is all about.
And sometimes, there’s really zero accountability to those who create, retouch and release photos of models to get them to look skinnier. It’s devastating to be know that they are all around and children who are still forming their own self perception are exposed to this. That’s why I’m in this Plus Size Fashion business. I don’t ever want to feel I’m less of a person if I don’t fit into a certain look or something.