Don't go changing...

I read a frightening thing earlier today that said that an increasing number of children are having their school photos airbrushed! Has the world gone mad? What next? Babies being retouched by Pixifoto before their parents send out the photos to family and friends?

It made me reflect upon my own self-image when I was growing up. I was not what you'd call 'trendy' as a kid. My mum ruled my wardrobe with an iron rod and I have nightmare memories of knee-length white socks and Laura Ashley dresses. I had terrible taste in glasses too - Deirdre Barlow white-rimmed ones were the worst I sported. Oh, and I had a gap between my top front teeth. Thanks again mum. In my photo smile I always tried to smile widely with my lips firmly shut. Not a good look.

Maybe I would have benefitted from a Photoshop makeover and would now have picture of a younger me that I could look at pride with and not shudder over.

Well, no! Looking back at those unkind portraits of my younger self reminds me of how far I've come. They are not to be falsified and nor are they to be buried as too painful reminders of how tough I found things being a child/teenager.

What message are we sending the young people of today if we're telling them that the real them is simply not quite good enough? How can we expect them to stride out with confidence into the real world if we tell them that their reality is undesirable and unattractive?

I fear for how shallow our society has become.

Women feel that attractiveness is merely attributable to the size of their bust and its perkiness; the slimness of their waistline and its firmness; and the lack of wrinkles on their pristinely made-up faces. Men meanwhile are lead to believe that without a visible bulge in their trousers, a full head of hair and a 'six-pack' they are worthless.

Maybe it's time we reclaimed ourselves and our reality and encouraged our teens and children to do the same. When twelve year old girls are breaking down in tears in the school toilets because they've been told to remove their makeup and false eyelashes something has most definitely gone wrong.