A Cultural Shift away from Unattainable towards Realizable Beauty
![handle is hein.journals/regjil10 and id is 315 raw text is: A CULTURAL SHIFT AWAY FROM UNATTAINABLE
TOWARDS REALIZABLE BEAUTY
As technology develops, the world faces new challenges, particu-
larly in the world of Fashion where the trend for models has become
the thinner the better. Moreover, with the aid of Photoshop', models
can be transformed to appear impossibly thin. This trend is especially
disturbing because research shows the media to be a contributing fac-
tor in the development of eating disorders for women.2 Young women
try to emulate the impossible standards portrayed by the extremely
thin models that are frequently in a state of malnourishment.3 Through
the use of impossibly thin models, fashion and advertising industries
have created an unrealistic and distorted standard of beauty.4 The por-
trayal of extremely thin models as the ideal body shape has changed
the standard of attractiveness. This shift has caused many young girls
to over-diet and eventually succumb to eating disorders in an effort to
try to conform to the new standard of beauty.5 Israel has taken a con-
troversial approach to this cultural challenge through new legislation
passed by the Israeli Knesset,6 and the United Kingdom has also
passed legislation in an attempt to curb the negative effects in the
I Photoshopping means,
[T]o digitally edit or alter a picture or photograph, and its etymology stems
from Adobe Photoshop, a well-known and widely used graphics editor. It
uses tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs, by altering size,
cropping, removing unwanted elements, doing selective color changes, en-
hancing images, sharpening and softening images, retouching and repairing
images, correcting image distortion, changing color depth, and adjusting
crop and rotation.
Kerry C. Donovan, Note, Vanity Fare: The Cost, Controversy, and Art of Fashion
Advertisement Retouching, 26 NOTRE DAME J.L. ETHICS & PUB. POL'Y 581, 581 n.2
(2012).
2 Jonathan Lis, 'Photoshop Law' will force advertisers to identify touched-up
images, HAARETZ (Jun. 14, 2010, 2:04 AM), http://www.haaretz.com/print-
edition/news/photoshop-law-will-force-advertisers-to-identify-touched-up-images-
1.295974 (quoting Knesset Member Rachel Adatto).
3 Id.
4 Id.
5 Id.
6 Knesset, THE FREE DICTIONARY, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Knesset
(last visited Jan. 1], 2014) (The Knesset is the unicameral parliament of Israel).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/regjil10&div=16&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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A Cultural Shift away from Unattainable towards Realizable Beauty
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