Jezebel Spent $10K for These Pics of Lena Dunham. Why?
On Friday, the women's website Jezebel proudly revealed untouched photos from actress Lena Dunham's Vogue photo shoot, which had caused so much controversy this week.
The back story: On Wednesday, Dunham's Vogue cover leaked online, portraying a gorgeous Dunham shot from the chest up. Almost immediately, the Internet began buzzing about the image, with many of Dunham's fans complaining that the magazine had cropped her curvy body out of frame and applied too much airbrushing to Dunham's inside shots (slimming her down, erasing her arm). In response to the public outcry, Jezebel offered a $10,000 prize to anyone (i.e.: someone who works in the art department at Vogue) who could pass along Dunham's un-touched photos for all to view.
On Friday, someone did send Jezebel the photos and the results? Completely underwhelming. Sure, Dunham's neck was thinned out a bit, her chin narrowed, her jawline sharpened. Lighting was fixed. Some of the polka dots on her shirt were removed to make way for bigger coverlines. But compared to the airbrushing hack jobs we've seen in the past, Vogue did a pretty great job maintaining Dunham's face and body - impressive for a magazine that amputated Claire Danes' leg in July.
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Jezebel's stunt was similar to an offer it made in 2007: $10,000 to anyone who could send it un-touched images from a woman's magazine cover. The winner was an original cover of Redbook featuring country singer Faith Hill, who was considerably altered (slimmed down, under-eye circles removed, TK). However, Jezebel's latest offer seems like fat-shaming a woman who is already so criticized for her body. It's also unnecessary. Since we're already familiar with Dunham's untouched body (if not, check out her Instagram page, or watch an episode of Girls where she strips down on a regular basis), Jezebel's stunt brings our focus back to Dunham's body and the "What's wrong with it?" debate.
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All magazines use airbrushing in order to convey artistic, fantastical, aspirational images. Does it go too far sometimes? Absolutely - Lady Gaga's dramatic slim-down for Vogue's September 2012 issue and Vanity Fair reportedly lightening actress Lupita Nyong'o's skin are two good examples. But most women that read fashion magazines do so for escapism. They likely understand that photos of 45-year-old wrinkle-free women are not real, in the same way they intellectualize that the outrageous hats and feathered jumpsuits on the runway are not to be worn in every-day life. As Christine Leiritz, editor-in-chief of Marie Claire, the French edition told the New York Times in 2009, "Our readers are not idiots, especially when they see those celebrities who are 50 and look 23. "Of course they're all retouched."
So, let's save our outrage for when it counts. Even Dunham, our voice of a generation for body love, is over it. On Thursday night, she addressed the issue, tweeting, "Some s*** is just too ridiculous to engage. Let's use our energy wisely, 2014." Good advice.
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