Quote - I would hope as postwork became more accessible to everyone the myth of the flawless beauty would at last wither away. But each time we have another "how can I achieve a realistic render in poser" thread and its another perfect woman, I have my doubts.

 

The problem here is that we seem to be going on the assumption that "the myth of flawless beauty" is something new -- and that a desire to achieve "flawless beauty" in young women is something new.

The quest for and the desire for flawless beauty has been around throughout the existence of the human race.  It didn't start when Photoshop was invented.  Sure -- the standard of beauty has varied from one historic era to another -- different attributes have been regarded as "beautiful" at different times.  But the inherent desire to be beautiful (it used to be called "vanity") has always been a strong, built-in part of the human psyche.  Photoshop didn't cause that to happen.  Photoshop has merely taken what was already there -- and catered to it.

Where we often make a mistake in these types of issues is over the idea that outside influences -- i.e. -- an air brushed photograph of a beautiful model -- CAUSE wrong-headed desires to flare up in some young girl's heart.  When in fact: the girl wouldn't be affected by the 'perfected' image at all -- if she didn't already have a bent in that direction in herself.

Much like a bottle of whiskey can be left sitting out on a table in an otherwise empty room.  Two men can see the bottle.  One mans looks at the bottle impassively, uninterested in any way.  While the other man just can't wait to snatch the bottle up in his hands & guzzle the contents.

It's what's in ourselves that causes the problems that we have in life.  Not what's outside of ourselves.  While it's true that certain things can no doubt serve as a catalyst to wrong desires, and can have a corrupting influence - it's also true that those outside catalysts are meaningless unless if the substance for the catalyst to work on is already present in someone's personality.  The outside influence needs a handle to grab hold of inside of the person in question.  Otherwise, the outside influence is powerless to do anything to them.

Go back and tell the artistic masters of former eras that they shouldn't have painted / sculpted their ideals of beauty in their own eras.  Because their actions made the average woman of their time feel inferior.

The only reason why the 'plain' woman feels inferior is because she's vain -- and she wants what the woman in the picture has.  While the woman in the picture is vain, too..........the difference being that she (temporarily) has what she wants.  But the natural beauty isn't satisfied, either -- and she's also going to have to deal with getting older and eventually losing the thing that she's chosen to define herself & her personal worth by.

It's all a matter of human nature in conflict with itself.  Forbidding the postworking of beautiful models in pictures on magazine covers wouldn't solve the problem.

There are people who aren't as bad about this as others -- but it's a disease that everyone has.  All of us are vain.  Men included.

Something To Do At 3:00AM