This photo has no FaceTune, nothing done to it except a filter and sharpened. While this may not seem like a big deal to you, up until about February 2014, posting a photo of my whole face was something I’d rarely do, I’d post half a face full of editing and bad lighting so you couldn’t actually see my face. It took me SO many attempts to get an acceptable one. I slowly got out of that and posted more full face photos.
A few months ago I’d FaceTune my photos, smooth my face, cover my spots, make my face thinner and it’s perfectly okay to do that if it makes you feel better, but I felt like I was lying to people, to my friends, to the people who only knew me online.
I’ve always been insecure about myself, mainly due to the fact magazines put out unrealistic standards for a human and I believed I should look like that, and most people believe that.
But one day I realised that by editing my face, making my face look “flawless”, I was contributing to that unrealistic expectations magazines do. (I’m sure we remember Justin Bieber’s Calvin Klein Ad)
According to this article from 2012,
80.7% talked about their own or others’ appearance in ways that draw attention to weight, lack of hair or slim frame.
30% have heard someone refer to their “beer belly”, 19% have been described as “chubby” and 19% have overheard talk about their “man boobs (moobs)”.
23% said concerns about their appearance had deterred them from going to the gym.
63% thought their arms or chests were not muscular enough.
29% thought about their appearance at least five times a day.
18% were on a high-protein diet to increase muscle mass, and 16% on a calorie-controlled diet to slim down.
So while this isn’t a big deal, I figured I’d post a photo with no editing, except a filter, to remind people that it’s absolutely okay to have spots and blemishes and uneven skin tone – because whilst you may not see it, all these girls and boys in magazines and all over the Internet have the except same problem, they have insecurities. The magazines are full of fakeness.
I still have a long way to go till I’m happy with myself. I want a sharper jawline and a clearer face, but that’s not the point of this. The point of this is to point out that just because you have spots and stuff, you’re not unloveable and you don’t need to hide yourself.
Men definitely suffer with self-esteem issues just as much as women do. Every person has this “ideal” to look like from magazines and celebrities: it’s everywhere. These photoshopped selfies and everything on the internet is fake. It represents the person someone wants to be. (a similar topic is photoshopped make-up. 1. 2.)
Also, a side note: I’m sick of this “if you don’t love yourself how do you expect anybody else to” quote, because it’s putting out the idea that you’re not lovable because you’re insecure, which isn’t true.
Here are some videos and articles about men and their body image
Extreme body image in media impacts males too
If people could just photoshopping selfies, even just a little bit maybe people wouldn’t have such high expectations for themselves or for other people who don’t look like that, if people were more honest It’d become the norm.
