Rachael Leigh Cook fights Photoshop

Courtesy of Edelman Public Relations

Rachael Leigh Cook, the actress known for her role in the movie "She's All That", has joined Geena Davis in a summit held in D.C. by the Creative Coalition and the Girl Scouts of America to raise awareness about the impact that airbrushed images in the media have on youth. She spoke about her experiences growing up, having her own body image issues..

“I did not grow up getting told about how manipulated the images we see of women and girls out there are, and I think it's an absolute travesty that young women are seeing what the media is feeding them.. It breaks my heart to be part of an industry and part of a machine that really pushes out these images and propagates these really terrible standards that are false.”

Recently, we put up an article of how post production in film has been getting even more advanced and doing some of the things we already do with still photographs, Unreal Future. It seems the problem they're trying to tackle just expanded into areas they're not even aware of. Cook also goes on to say,

via Wikipedia"Nothing that you see is real, even if you look at what looks like a candid photo of someone, anything can be done. It is false advertising and false advertising is a crime so why isn't this a crime? I'm just up in arms about it,” Cook added. “People need to know that there are actual lenses that are put on cameras that make people stretched out. If you saw these actors in person, you wouldn't even recognize them as the people you see on TV. It's just all a complete illusion and maybe it should be viewed as art, the way that art isn't real. The way that a picture of a rose can be beautiful, but it's not a real rose.”

Awareness is probably the best thing that can be done for the youth seeing these images, it really can't be made illegal like false advertising. While cosmetic companies, fashion magazines and workout videos benefit from these images causing a low self image in people,it's the people who ultimately decide if they'll allow the images they see change their own perception of themselves. Children are not only ones susceptible to being deceived by an altered photo. Anyone without an untrained eye could easily miss a professional retouchers handiwork.

It still comes down to the individual and if they will to allow themselves to be manipulated into changing how they perceive themselves. Awareness is important, but it's about all that can be done. Airbrushing techniques are just going to get more and more advanced and it shows no sign of stopping. It's only a bad thing if you allow it to be, because beauty is still in the eye of the beholder. After all, it's just in the name of art, right?