Can we legislate Photoshop use?

For those who do not are clear: everything is photoshopped. Each picture you see on a magazine cover is not real.

"I don't think there is a single photo in these (blade), have not been retouched. They are all rigged to hell."Hany Farid, a Dartmouth College

A number of countries have started to discuss how they can legislate against the practice.

Can we really ask Governments to stop what we as consumers (apparently) want?

UK organisations have begun to talk about what measures could be introduced in order to curb the practice of digital manipulation.

Periodicals defend practice: "sometimes readers will hyper-reality in a way-they wish to be taken out of their own situation."-Jill Wanless, an associate editor at Search Magazine.

Gabourey Sidibe on Elle-complete with Wig and lightened skin.
Picture from the movie precious right.

Australia has recently introduced voluntary guidelines for the fashion and media industries. code of conduct requires:

Reveals when images have been retouched and refrain from increasing the photographs in a way that changes a person's body shape by, for example, extended their legs or crop your waist or by removing freckles, lines and other brands.

Photographers will not put their hands to the ' voluntary '

"Make the politicians really so underestimated the population that they believe a warning should go on a fashion picture?

"Perhaps each woman who uses makeup should have a warning tattooed on his neck.

"Entertainment media, in General, the traffic in imagination. in terms is the manipulation of images a legitimate part of the job as entertainment producers."(source)

Can we really rely on "voluntary" tags?, or even law?, we as consumers have a role to play here? Research (and anyone with eyes to see) shows that the size and shape of our bodies are increasingly at odds with the media images.

See our statement on the Female Body shape in the 20th century, if you need more convincing. or even Wired's infographic on decreasing the size of playmate models.

Have any real understanding of how the ' hyper-reality ' affect us?

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