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Has Airbrushing Gone Too Far?

Digital Barbie-fication of women called unhealthy trend

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted May 3, 2008 4:57 PM CDT

(Newser) – Shutterbugs have long altered pics, but now critics are cringing over the effects of airbrushing on young girls. French lawmakers have even approved a law against inciting "excessive thinness." But would such a move work in America? Maybe not, "but there are a whole lot of impressionable young kids" who are tortured by images of slimmed-down and retouched women, Jessica Bennett writes in Newsweek.

Numbers tell the tale: An average US girl sees 77,000 ads by age 12, and has an 81% chance of fearing fat by age 10. Even Photoshoppers can be appalled by it: "We're always stretching the models' legs and slimming their thighs," one said. "Sometimes I feel a little like Frankenstein." But Elizabeth Hurley and others in the biz love a touch-up or two. "You have to accept that fashion is fantasy," one photographer said. "It's wearable art."

Women's health campaigners have called for magazines to stop retouching photographs of models.
Women's health campaigners have called for magazines to stop retouching photographs of models.   (KRT Photos)
Gisele Bundchen is seen at a party in this undated file photo.
Gisele Bundchen is seen at a party in this undated file photo.   (Getty Images)
In this photo illustration, supermodel Gisele Bundchen is portrayed as Wendy Darling, beckoned by dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan.
In this photo illustration, supermodel Gisele Bundchen is portrayed as Wendy Darling, beckoned by dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov as Peter Pan.   (AP Photo/Disney Resorts, Annie Leibovitz)
Pictured here is Estee Lauder spokesmodel Elizabeth Hurley's new print advertising campaign for Estee Lauder's top-selling Perfectionist Wrinkle Lifting Serum.
Pictured here is Estee Lauder spokesmodel Elizabeth Hurley's new print advertising campaign for Estee Lauder's top-selling Perfectionist Wrinkle Lifting Serum.   (AP Photo)
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