This is my naughty step and it is not a metaphorical one... this is really the bottom step of my staircase. There haven't been many 'time-out' moments on these stairs in recent years but I'm sure that the grandchildren will rectify that in the very near future. I'll let you admire the new carpet for a few moments and then I'll crack on. OK? Let's get down to business.
Now, I have a "Room 101" list as long as my arm but topping it recently is AIRBRUSHING.
For years now pictures in the media have been "touched up" to ensure perfection in the glossy pages of magazines and flawless images in advertising campaigns. At first, the public were probably unaware how much alteration was taking place until computer programmes such as Photoshop or Picasa were easily accessible and we could touch up our own pictures. Similarly, as more and more celebrities were used for advertising purposes, it was easier to see that the person we saw in the "paparazzi" shots was nothing like the one we saw adorning the pages of our magazines.
Recently, people like Britney Spears and Demi Moore have shown tried to prove how much they dislike the airbrushing process and there was also a campaign held by Dove to demonstrate how much airbrushing can change the original features of the model and there was also the acompanying parody...
I would also like it to be noted that when the selection panel of programmes such as America/Britain's Next Top Model choose their obligatory "plus-sized model" (UK size 14/16 at the most) they bang on about promoting a positive image to your average young lady and how not everyone is a size 6 or 8. Yet they can never understand why the model becomes distraught when the sample clothes from a designer don't fit during a casting... and THEN they berate them for losing weight *throws hands up in air in despair*
When I set out on our family holiday I am very concious about the way that I look. Over the past couple of years my body shape and size has changed drastically. I was very aware of how I look in a bikini/swimming costume and how certain types of clothes hang on my body. I learn one thing when I'm away; no-one else gives a shit, so why should I (probably another good reason for not exchanging names and addresses)? Women and men of all shapes and sizes strut about the hotel and the resort in less clothing than I normally wear in bed and no-one bats an eyelid. One part of me wants to *high-five* them all and shout "RESPECT" and another part of me wants them to put it away because it wasn't kind on the eyeballs. But this is me with the hang-ups and it's me that has to deal with it. Isn't it funny how I never gave any of this a second thought before I became uncomfortable with my own image?
Fellow blogger, Rosie Scribble has written a great piece about airbrushing and I commented how I believe that I have provided my own daughter with the right information and messages in the past and that she never seems to have been paranoid about her body shape. What really depresses me is when young role-models such as Hollyoaks actress, Jennifer Metcalfe, spend £2000 on liposuction on an already perfect body even after women like Denise Hendry have lost their life through botched cosmetic surgery procedures.
So, AIRBRUSHING - take yourself to the naughty step and stay there until further notice!