ISSUES
: Body Confidence
Chapter 1: Body Image
25
Lena Dunham bans media from
photoshopping her: “If that means no
more magazine covers, so be it”
By Rachel Moss, Lifestyle Writer at The Huffington Post UK
L
ena Dunham has vowed she
will no longer allow retouched
images of herself to be used
in the media after she “barely
recognised herself” in a magazine
recently.
Last week the
Girls
star accused
Spanish magazine
Tentaciones
of
Photoshopping an image of her on
its front cover, but later issued an
apology when the magazine said it
did not retouch the image.
The publication claimed the image
was approved by Dunham’s
agency, photographer and publicist
and explained that the same
photo was originally published by
Entertainment Weekly
in 2013, and
had not been retouched by that
publication either.
In an essay in her newsletter,
Lenny
,
the actress says the incident has
made up her mind about Photoshop
once and for all.
“Something snapped when I saw
that Spanish cover. Maybe it was
the feeling of barely recognising
myself and then being told it was
100% me but knowing it probably
wasn’t and studying the picture
closely for clues,” she writes.
“Maybe it was realising that was
an image I had at some point seen,
approved, and most likely loved.
Maybe it was the fact that I no
longer understand what my own
thighs look like. But I knew that I
was done.”
In the essay, the 29-year-old goes
on to admit that she enjoyed seeing
her body retouched in the earlier
stages of her career, but now she is
making a public stand against such
images.
“[I’m] done with allowing images
that retouch and reconfigure my
face and body to be released into
the world. If that means no more
fashion-magazine covers, so be it,”
she says.
She goes on to thank the likes of
Kate Winslet, Jamie Lee Curtis and
Body confidence
Have you ever felt bad about your body after seeing an advertisement?
Source: Half of women have felt bad about their body after seeing an add, YouGov, 11 September 2015.
Yes
No
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Men
Women
49%
26%
67%
44%
Zendaya for making her aware that
“such a choice or statement was
possible”.
Dunham ends the letter by saying
she wants to be honest with fans,
but moreover, she wants to be
honest with herself.
“This body is the only one I have. I
love it for what it’s given me. I hate
it for what it’s denied me,” she says.
“And now, without further ado, I
want to be able to pick my own
thigh out of a lineup.”
8 March 2016
Ö
The above information is
reprinted with kind permission
from The Huffington Post
UK.
Please
visit
www.
huffingtonpost.co.uk for further
information.
© 2016 AOL (UK) Limited
