Laurie and Debbie say:
Hewlett Packard has gone down the rabbit hole and done Photoshop one better with its new R927 camera. For a mere $400, you can buy a camera which will manipulate the picture in-camera to make people look ten pounds lighter. They do not seem to have provided the “ten pounds heavier” option; for that, you must download into Photoshop or a similar program and do it yourself.
Like so much in the size acceptance word, this would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic … and tragic if it wasn’t so funny. The only article we found showcasing this feature takes the tack that men can use it to please their girlfriends. What an original approach! 1) Assume that technology is used by men. 2) Assume that body image is an issue for women.
Right now, the camera has a limited suite of manipulation tools, and the product reviews don’t make it clear how many are one-touch. But think of the possibilities. You can make yourself not only thinner, but taller. You can give your teenage daughter a supermodel’s body just the way the pros do it, and you won’t have to starve her. You can “fix” your nose. You can change your skin color. You can do absolutely anything except what cameras do well: record something about what people actually look like.
In fact, what this does is put the riches of the Renaissance upper class in the hands of the mildly affluent: you no longer need a tame painter to paint your portrait the way you want to be remembered. You can do it yourself.
Pointer courtesy epi-lj, as so often.
feminism
women
fat
body image
photography
camera
Photoshop
Alice in Wonderland
Body Impolitic