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Tyra banks recently did an interview with People Magazine and she was pretty frank about having her photo’s retouched and she thinks others should do the same thing. As a matter of fact she says that retouching is ’empowering’.
“Honey, I’ve got a lot of cellulite on my booty and that’s nobody’s business,” Banks tells PEOPLE. “So if you see me in a swimsuit and you see the side of my butt and there’s no dimples in it, I or somebody else have retouched it all.”
If were to be very real about this, we have to agree that dimples are nobody’s business and in pictures we want to put our best ‘face’ forward. But the other side of the issue is that dimples are a real thing and we have to be honest about having them if we do, which is what Tyra did in her interview, but not in her pictures.
To retouch or not to retouch is a pretty touchy subject no pun intended, we spend a lot of time on Instagram adding filters and editing our photos to create a persona that we think our audience will like. Here are 4 reasons this is not as empowering as Tyra claims:
1. You are not comfortable with your flaws
Nobody is perfect and there is more power in embracing your flaws than there is when you erase them with an app. When you are more focused on retouching you are not dealing with the issue and if it isnt an ‘issue’ then why retouch?
2. Altering photos can become obsessive
To be honest some people are addicted to technological alterations and ‘likes’, that is not real power. We can be so out of touch with what is real that we start to believe what we put out on social media and we become invested in ‘how many likes’ we get. False obsessions is never powerful!
3. The message is very confusing
On one hand Tyra is all about embracing flaws and body types and not having one ideal type and on the other hand she says:
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“I love that at the touch of the button anybody could do it on their smart phone,” says Banks, who can rattle off a list of photo editing apps like Facetune. “Girls may be like, ‘I’m so insecure. Tyra’s butt looks like that.’ Well, Tyra’s butt does not look like that. And your’s can look just like that. Just take a 5 second tutorial online and you can do it yourself.”
4. We need a happy medium
The focus should be working on the flaws if you truly are not happy, if you do not like the dimples in your butt work on them. When you are in the business Tyra is in we have to be a bit more conscious about how we put out our brand so retouching is definitly a part of her mantra.
The message however should be consistent, I think when explained constructively women can understand the difference between embracing their flaws and not putting out unflattering photos.
We do not have to be on Instagram showing our ass and at the same time Apps just give us a false sense of security which is never powerful! Weigh in, do you think retouching photos is empowering?
