The Camera Always Lies: Why Some People Look More Attractive In Real Life
Are selfies changing the way we view ourselves?
I recently went out with a girlfriend and snapped a quick picture at the night's end. The following day, I sent her the picture.
She replied, "Thanks, I will FaceTune it."
I immediately thought…awwwwww, how sweet. She is going to put a soundtrack to our special moment. An hour later, she sent the photo back to me.
I eagerly clicked on it, expecting Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" or some fierce version of Beyoncé's "Flawless" to come blasting through my speakers. But that is not what she sent.
Instead, she had turned us into cyborgian twins. My cheekbones jutted out of my heart-shaped face. My poreless skin was smoothed into unattainable perfection. My eyes were catlike but empty. My lips (that I had always felt were too big) looked like they had been vacuum sucked.
"Oh, wow. There must have been some formaldehyde in our Cosmopolitans last night," I replied.
I tend to deflect with snark, but the picture really disturbed me. Was this how I was supposed to look? Like Jessica Rabbit on valium?
