You guys. I’m so confused by this Lena Dunham/Vogue cover story/Jezebel/everyone on Facebook situation.
Here’s what I believe went down:
- Vogue photoshopped their pix of Lena to make her look “better” than her natural self (skinner neck, skinnier waist, covered-up boobs, etc.)
- Jezebel offered 10K for the original shots, got them, and published them with disappointed/angry commentary (“Lena Dunham and her fans, ourselves included, love her just the way she is. Vogue’s opinion, of course, is another matter.” and “Why bother? These slight tweaks, the “you look great, but you’d look just a little more great if…” stuff is insidious.”
- Lena reacted like this: “10k? Give it to charity then just order HBO…Some s–t is just too ridiculous to engage. Let’s use our energy wisely, 2014.”
- And then dozens of people on Facebook/Twitter/etc. were like – God Jezebel! Calm down! Jezebel is the worst! Why is Jezebel shaming Lena Dunham?? Get over it everyone! Why are we still talking about this stupid issue?? The pictures aren’t even that different!
So to recap: Vogue publishes an unrealistic portrait of a real woman. Jezebel defends that real person. And then both the person and the people of the Internet (MANY of them women) are upset with Jezebel?
Again: Vogue offends Lena Dunham and women (because changing a woman’s body is offensive. We can all agree on that, right? Pleasepleaseplease say yes). Jezebel defends Lena Dunham (because saying they would prefer to see her real body is supportive. I’m not even asking if you agree with that because it’s a cold, hard fact). Lena Dunham does not defend herself (because saying, “let’s focus on something else” is deeming the situation OK) and much of the Internet agrees with her on that stance (but not all, thank you Slate, forever and ever).
Why?
From what I’m reading it’s for three reasons:
- The photoshopping wasn’t that severe aka Jezebel is making too big a deal out of it.
- This is how being a celebrity in magazines works, so Jezebel should shut up already.
- Jezebel is shaming Lena by pointing out her real body.
Okay, but:
1a. How much does a woman’s body have to be changed for it to be wrong?
2a. Just because it’s common practice means we’re going to roll over as a society?
3a. That’s not shaming, that’s supporting. Shaming is changing a woman’s body to that it looks more like society’s unrealistic standards of beauty.
I’m not saying we need to make a national case out of every re-touched image of a celebrity. I agree with Lena, there are equally important topics to focus on. But when it is brought it, why are we abandoning the fight and supporting the bully? And, more importantly, how does the actual victim – a woman whose comfortable body image well-reported and supported – not support her natural self??
This is embarrassing you guys. And I don’t care if you think I’m making a mountain out of a molehill here, just like Jezebel. That’s what needs to happen for this to change.
And if you’re sitting there thinking, why does this need to change? then you’re part of the problem.
Jessie Rosen
Jessie Rosen resides physically in LA and mentally in NY. She writes scripts, books, articles, sex stories, branded content and killer e-mails.
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Just a few honest questions:
Was Lena actually offended by the retouching? Did she make a statement to that extent?
Could Lena have been offended that Jezebel spent $10K (which could have gone to a charity) raising an issue over retouching of her photo, making her the center of a controversy that she may not have wanted to be involved in?
My own opinion:
Is Lena not allowed to have her own opinions on retouching? As well as the relative value of $10K spent on getting her un-retouched photos vs charity?
If a woman retouches a photo of herself for her blog, is that an offense to women all over? Should we demand the original photos and call her out as an example of the culture that oversexualizes and dehumanizes her body?
I would like to see what would happen if someone went the other direction. Take pictures of women and add a few pounds, add some more hips, put a couple wrinkles under the eyes. Nothing crazy, just subtly go the other direction. If feeling really brave, take a Kate Moss or someone stick like and make them full figured. I think it would be cool, but that’s an iffy one as then the skinny would take that as a slam on them and all that. Maybe just the subtle one.
Jezebel isn’t defending Lena/women as a whole/anyone here. Jezebel is in the wrong.
No matter what point they were trying to make, they illegally obtained photos of Lena Dunham and published them without her consent in order to make money/encourage clicks/start a controversy on their site. From what I’ve read, that’s what a lot of commenters on Jez had a problem with (along with the whole “the money could be better spent on charity” thing, but that argument is ridiculous).
And I think the fact that Vogue only changed the photos slightly is actually a valid point. Jezebel only ran the story/asked for the photos because they believed that a woman with Lena’s body would never make it into the pages/cover of Vogue without being thinned down to a serious extent. Jezebel is body-shaming Lena and her body, not Vogue. Vogue barely changed her – most of the edits are standard retouching, and have little to do with making her skinnier/hotter/whatever.
Once they got the photos and realised that yes, they had made a mountain out of a molehill, Jezebel could have taken the opportunity to discuss how maybe inroads are being made (by people like Lena!) with regards to women in the media – ladies above a size zero don’t need to be photoshopped to a twig to make a magazine cover anymore! But they don’t, they make a big deal out of the fact that some of the photos were combined with other photos and OMG there’s a pigeon on her head! How anti-feminist!
TL;DR I’m not saying that Vogue are in the right (some of their edits were still about making Lena skinner, which is a conversation worth having). But Jezebel are definitely in the wrong. They body-shamed Lena by saying she MUST have been heavily photoshopped to look that good. They asked for, obtained, and published illegal photos without Lena’s consent. And when the photos weren’t as scandalous as they were expecting, they ran the stupid story anyway.
http://cat-nip.squarespace.com/ is good sport for all you ladies!@!@
I like that Jezebel defended Lena, they were not shaming her at all. They were standing up and asking why she wasn’t perfect enough the way she is for the Vogue cover. I think everyone attacking Jezebel over this is surprising because that seems to just be supporting the idea that we should Photoshop women’s bodies, which is not okay.
It saddens me to see that people are not as outraged over what Vogue did to an already beautiful woman. I’m tired of seeing heavily Photoshopped women on magazines, and I think attacking Jezebel for bringing this issue to light is ridiculous.
Lena dismissing the whole thing was kind of upsetting to me, because in my opinion, her being in the public eye means she’s a role model. While there are equally important things to talk about, this issue often gets swept under the rug, which she kind of did with her dismissal. I would have loved to see her step up and say I do not approve of Photoshopping women because they are perfect the way they are. I’m on Jezebel’s side here, and apparently I am in the minority.
I also think this whole issue reminds me of this post http://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/52421690536/fefeferi-fighting-for-fitness-with-tea .
This just demonstrates how heavily Photoshopped women are, and I think that should be stopped.