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The concept of photoshopping professional photos to make their subject(s) appear more flattering is not a new one to the worlds of advertising, fashion, and media. I’m willing to bet they’ve been altering photos as long as they’ve had the capabilities. One wonders what exactly they did before computers and photoshop.

Photoshopping serves a purpose: to sell something. You’re either selling an image, a person, or a product. I’m assuming the thought process is that the better something looks, the more likely people are to buy it. But if the advertisement looks better than the actual product, and people express some kind of disappointment that the product does not perform to its advertised standards, does this mean people will stop purchasing the products? I’m doubtful. If anything, I think it means they’ll purchase more in search of the “perfect” product. I feel this trend is more likely to happen with something most of the women I know use daily: make up.

There are so many different brands of make up, it’s difficult to even begin figuring out what to wear or how to wear it when you go to buy your first lipstick or foundation. You see the ads and you go for the products that look the best, the products that you think will be perfect on you. When they take the products home and they, inevitably, turn out to be anything less than fabulous, you return to your local retailer and buy something else. This quest continues until a.) death, b.) you stop wearing make up, or c.) you realize you’ll never have the complexion the women do in the ads.

The thing that kills me is eyelashes. While I’ve accepted that only many hours spent photoshopping will make me look anything like the women modeling my foundation, I still can’t seem to accept the fact that I have short, thin, and stubby lashes. I am on a endless quest for the perfect mascara that makes my eyelashes look just right and doesn’t wear off during the day. I’ve tired over 15 different brands and styles since I was in high school trying to find the right fit. I’m convinced it doesn’t exist, but I’m still searching for the Holy Grail of Mascara. At least I’m not wearing MAC everyday in an effort to try to make myself look like a cover model. MAC is not meant for daily wear: it’s art make up, it’s designed not to melt under bright lights for things such as the theatre and photoshoots.

I think the reason behind this neverending quest is the mascara commercials. L’Oréal admitted to using fake eyelashes in its ads staring Penelope Cruz. It wouldn’t surprise me if other cosmetic brands did the same thing. While I don’t think using fake eyelashes is quite as bad as using photoshop to alter a prodcut’s image, it is up there. The product you’re using is supposed to improve eyelashes, so you use fake eyelashes to make the improvement more dramatic. Sure, it’s still fake… but at least there is something concrete behind the lies.

When Jezebel released the unedited copy of Faith Hill’s Redbook cover, I wasn’t too surprised that they removed her backfat, made her arm skinnier, and removed any sign of age. They even photoshoped her right arm into existence behind her body. Pretty impressive. I was surprised, however, that she looked only 5 years other than me in the edited version, rather than a few years younger than her real age. They’re not just photoshoping stray hairs and random pieces of skin that shouldn’t be there: they’re removing any evidence that women age.

If you ask me that question and you want me to answer it truthfully I’d say they’re not just photoshoping away unsightly blotches and wrinkles: they’re removing everything that makes a woman, well, a woman. Faith Hill is a mother: she has wrinkles, she has fly aways, she has blotches in her make up. I’m sure Tim McGraw looks just as “ragged” as she did on that cover before it was photoshopped. The thing is, Faith Hill didn’t look ragged - she looked normal. She looked like a human being with a pulse. In the photoshopped cover, she lokoed like a creepier wax version of herself available on display at Madame Tussaud’s.

So, if everyone knows that everything from magazine covers to ads at the BabyGap are being photoshopped, why are we putting up with it? Why are we still disappointed when those photoshoped Victoria’s Secret bras don’t push our breasts up in the exact same way they do for Heidi Klum? What can you really expect from a bra company that has its products made in US prisons? If everyone knows the pictures are edited beyond beflief, why is it still being done?

I mean, I know we have to buy something. But are we still buying into the image edited and photoshopped for our visual pleasure, or are we buying a product we legitimately need and/or enjoy? I know that buying the mascara advertised in the Penelope Cruz commercial won’t suddenly transform me into Ms. Cruz, but does everyone know that? On a deep down-below-the-surface-of-your-skin level, do people really hope that buying a certain product will bring them just a little bit closer to the falsified image in front of them? Or even, like my mascara quest, a little closer to perfection?

Hi I’m Liz, the crazy liberal feminist from California. I’m here today to bring you a new weekly feature here at DollyMix entitled The Feminist Wetblanket. I’m a huge fan of pop culture and the media, and since I spend so much time analyzing it in my head, Cate asked me to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and jot these thoughts down in some sort of coherent manner. So here it is, your introduction to The Feminist Wetblanket and a little look into my brain and what it’s like to analyze pop culture from a feminist point of view (like you don’t do that already!).

Now that I’ve graduated from college and possess a BA in Women’s Studies and Psychology, I find it harder and harder to just sit back and passively enjoy mainstream entertainment. I analyze everything. I may not analyze it out loud or share my thoughts with others, but my brain is working overtime analyzing the gender roles and the ways race and class intersect and create discourses that shape the minds of young audiences.

See what I mean? …

I’ve often been told by my friends that they’re thankful I haven’t turned into a feminist wetblanket: finding something wrong with everything and feeling the need to inform everyone I know about it. I understand that my opinions are fairly radical, so I keep the majority of them within my circle of like minded friends. There are some things, however, that are just so glaring - so jarring - that I can’t possibly keep them to myself. Snickers superbowl ad anyone? Transition from college to work only made my life easier: working for a feminist organization has given me the place to air my opinions that I used to have in my college classrooms.

In these environments, and even with my friends, I don’t feel like a feminist wetblanket by any means. I can enjoy mainstream entertainment, but I enjoy it with a grain of salt - which most people should. I think the most poignant example I have of this is when my boyfriend asked me what I thought about Casino Royale, the latest installment of the James Bond series. He asked me what I honestly thought about it, and it turned into an hour long discussion about the negative portrayals of women in the movie and how the series denies women any agency. I won’t go into the details of what was said here (because, hello, introduction), but I was kind of shocked when I realized how much I had really thought about the movie without even realizing it. It wasn’t even a conscious process for me, my mind just automatically goes to that analysis now. It makes me very giddy to know that my mind just automatically “thinks” feminist.

I am rather thrilled at this idea, mostly because it makes me feel like less of a passive viewer and more like an active analyst of the media presented to me. I am, however, secretly mourning the loss of my ability to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy without going into race, gender, and sexuality stereotypes portrayed on the show. While I’d much rather have the ability to instantly analyze, I still feel I am justified in mourning my loss of naivete. However sad the loss, I am glad for it.

It’s not to say that I didn’t hold these same views before I was a Women’s Studies graduate, because I did. It’s more like my brain is now hard wired to think about the underlying messages of heteronormativity rather than just writing it off as another co-modification by Hollywood. I have to say, it is very interesting when your thoughts and views on the world become so pervasive and so obvious to you that they truly do impact your everyday life. While I’m sure the same can be said about racism, sexism, and homophobia, it’s nice to know that it can go both ways.

Liz Abinante is a recent graduate of University of California, Davis with a double Bachelor’s in Women’s Studies and Psychology. She’s a little baby (only 21) and has been proving that feminists can be in National sororities since 2005. She works in California for the state’s domestic violence coalition and she absolutely loves her job. She met Cate many moons ago (back before they had gray hair and 10 cats apiece) and wants her to return to this side of the pond. She’s currently in the process of writing a feminist analysis of Harry Potter and applying for her PhD in Women’s Studies. She likes to sleep, eat, and ride her scooter.