Who is this image made for? Who is it that would prefer a perfect fiction over a beautiful reality, if they could make an informed choice? The people who make magazines like RedBook see skin and eyes and arms and hair, and somehow think that the only beautiful women are the ones whose every part fits a strict standard. They take all the bits apart, adjust, and then reassemble. Take a minute and study the animated picture at the end of this entry below, if you don’t yet understand what I mean. Pay special attention to the back, and to the arm.

The photograph shown in composite below wasn’t altered out of evil intent.  It was altered because the editors believe the retouched photo will sell more copy — to women who feel their own flaws keenly, because they see not their own beauty, but all the things wrong with each of their parts. If you ask me, the cover would have been just as popular without the photoshop-attack, because in spite of her mortal sin of looking like a real, flesh-and-blood human woman, Faith Hill is truly beautiful. How anyone could not notice that fact, is beyond me.

Check out the original article at jezebel.com (especially the Annotated Guide to Making Faith Hill ‘Hot’), and the follow-up – there are some great quotes there.