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Science | Geography | Art & Design | Citizenship | PSHE | Relationships and health

Winslet demands right to show her wrinkles

Should airbrushing be illegal? By refusing to have images of herself doctored, Kate Winslet has made a stand against the unrealistic presentation of celebrities’ bodies in the media. Craig Zobel could hardly believe his ears. The director of the TV series Mare of Easttown had offered to edit a scene in which the star, Kate Winslet, showed a "bulgy bit of belly". But the Oscar-winning actress was having none of it. "Don't you dare!" she told him. Not only that, but she rejected two versions of the poster for the series that had been retouched: "I'm like: 'Guys, I know how many lines I have by the side of my eye. Please put them all back!'" she told the New York Times. Winslet, who is 45, plays a middle-aged woman who has an affair with a college lecturer. Viewers, she believes, can relate to her character because "there are clearly no filters. She's a fully-functioning, flawed woman with a body and a face that moves in a way that is synonymousIf two words are synonymous, they have the same meaning. with her age and her life and where she comes from. I think we're starved of that." The term used in the industry for altering images of people's bodies is airbrushing. It originally referred to a device that spreads paint using air pressure, making delicate changes to photographic prints possible. Today the work is usually digital, with computer technology allowing extensive, often unnoticeable changes. For a long time, airbrushing was taken for granted. Early in her career, Winslet said that she was pleased with a photograph which had "reduced the size of my legs by about a third". In recent years, though, she and others have made a stand against it. When she signed an advertising contract with Lancome, Winslet insisted that her pictures should not be retouched, explaining that she did not want to promote false ideas of how women look when they become older. The singer Demi Lovato insisted on being photographed by Vanity Fair with "no makeup, no clothes, and no retouching," saying that they wanted to show "the side of me that's real, that's liberated, that's free". The model Zendaya denounced Modeliste magazine for airbrushing pictures of her to make her look thinner when she was only 19. "These are the things that make women self-conscious, that create the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have," she pointed out. The actress Jameela Jamil has gone further, calling airbrushing "a crime against women". She argues that it fools consumers into spending money to try to achieve a standard of beauty that is unattainable. It also makes the celebrities in the photos insecure about their real looks. Those who practise it, she wrote in an article for the BBC, "are trying to break you, so you will hate yourself and go out and buy something you don't need, in order to fix something that was never broken in the first place". "Two-thirds of teenage girls and young women don't think they're pretty enough," she noted. "And 93% think they're judged on their appearance more than their ability." Airbrushing, however, does not just happen to women. Magazines also offer images of impossibly perfect men which, psychologists warn, can make ordinary people feel inadequate. Should airbrushing be illegal? Indulge the bulge Some say, no. People have always sought an ideal of beauty, and airbrushing is just another tool in that quest. We love on-screen idols because they are so pleasing to look at, not because we imagine we can ever be equally attractive. Winslet would not be so quick to criticise airbrushing if she did not happen to look great without it, thanks to her natural beauty and access to expensive cosmetics. Others say yes. Airbrushing has a terribly harmful influence, making even the most attractive people feel that they are not good looking enough and fuelling the rise in eating disorders. It is ridiculous that even a beautiful 19-year-old model should be subjected to it. In a civilised society, we should accept everyone for who they are and encourage them to be their authentic selves. KeywordsSynonymous - If two words are synonymous, they have the same meaning.

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