Let's Get Serious: We Know Ads are Photoshopped But We Still Feel Terrible

Okay. I love my body. I've gotten to a pretty good mindset. But that doesn't mean I think it's perfect. I'm definitely not putting myself in danger, worrying about my weight, or even really thinking about my body most of the time, but at the end of the day, even at under 100lbs/size 0, even I nitpick my appearance (and I know that's ridiculous). 

By now, I think that everyone knows that advertisements are almost always photoshopped.  Actually, I love finding photoshop comparisons. They're kind of weirdly addictive.

Actually, this is such old news that there has been a lot of counterculture about non-photoshopped ads, as if providing realistic body expectations is the most revolutionary idea in the world. These non-photoshopped ads are DEFINITELY a step up, but they still almost always use conventionally-beautiful-bodied girls. Where are the stretch marks, the scars, the flat chests, the variety in skin-tones, the spill-over? The "too-skinny" girls? The big girls without those still-conventionally-beautiful curves?  

There are even more ads that aren't even bothering to pretend they're body-positive. Have you heard about that issue with Target and their junior-section bikinis? Gross.

But you know what the most harmful part of all this? 

Knowing that that body could exist. 

Even if we know that it's fake, we still want to get there. 

I mean, maybe that model doesn't actually look anything like that, but some girl saw that and (whether it was achieved healthily or not), pushed herself to physical limits to get that literally-should-not-exist out-of-this-world body. 

At the end of the day, I'm not even comparing myself to these photoshopped ads, I'm comparing myself to girls on Instagram. I'm comparing myself to the girl in my lecture hall who literally turned heads.

And I know I'm not alone here. 

It's not the ads themselves that are causing problems everywhere. I don't even bat an eyelash at those anymore, knowing how photoshopped they are. But it's creating an irresponsible culture where (mostly) girls all wish they looked better than the images being thrown at us, and then blame themselves for failing when someone else is capable of achieving that.