Photoshopping- what's the point?!

Okay, so we all know that celebrities are photoshopped. I mean, when I was younger, I use to get so sad because I thought that people who looked as perfect as celebrities were real, yet I had so many flaws, I could never measure up. It was bad enough that I had dark skin, hair, and eyes (I'd always wanted to be fair, with blond hair and blue eyes, like my Barbies). Yet when I started comparing myself at a young age to the flawless pictures of celebrities, I found even more reasons to dislike my body. Scars and acne, love handles and thunder thighs, a weird nose, saddlebags... every little "imperfection" was magnified.

It took a long time for me to realize that celebrities are indeed photoshopped. They aren't perfect, they are just perfected by a highly advanced photo-editing software. However, even to this day, I still have to actually remind myself that the pictures aren't 100% real. It's hard, even when you know the truth, not to be slightly jealous. Maybe that's why it's such a big deal to get raw, unedited photos of celebs. Some magazines feature a "Stars Without Make-Up" section; not only are they without make-up, they're not photoshopped. And this sure grabs attention- people long to see the imperfections in the "perfect." You realize that they are human, and have their physical flaws just like everyone else.

So I wonder- why do we photoshop people? Why do we create these fake images? They may be nice to look at, but to be honest, I don't think anything good really comes from them. I know I'm not the only person who has felt she's had to "perfect" herself in order to live up to society's standard of beauty; there are millions of people who struggle with distorted body image, and it's greatly attributed to the fake images. I remember, in particularly, watching an episode of Dr. Phil where a woman who thought she was so hideous, she didn't leave her house for two years. Two years. She was terrified that people would think she was "a monster." Yet, she was beautiful. It's so sad to think she lost two years of her life, and spent more time before and after her period of isolation, hating herself. All because she didn't think she was pretty enough.

I don't mean to sound like I'm dogging Photoshop- I love the program. I just wonder why we think we have to make people look unnaturally flawless and utterly perfect.