The Colombian artist denounces that the changes to her image are “a lack of respect for me and the women who wake up every day looking to feel comfortable with ourselves”
The Colombian singer Karol G published a message this Thursday on Instagram in which she criticizes the fact that GQ magazine of Latin America, which dedicates the cover of this April and an extensive interview to her, has retouched her image even though he asked them not to.
The artist appreciates the “opportunity” of being on the cover of the publication, but regrets that they changed his appearance “despite the fact that I made clear my displeasure with the amount of retouching they did to the photo.” Karol G. assures that the published image does not represent her :
“My face doesn’t look like this, my body doesn’t look like this and I feel very happy and comfortable with how I look naturally.”
The singer adds that these tweaks are “a lack of respect” for all women who fight against “society’s stereotypes”:
“Beyond feeling that it is a lack of respect towards me, it is towards all women who wake up every day looking to feel comfortable with ourselves despite the stereotypes of society.”
The Twitter account of her fans has been flooded with messages praising her reaction and criticizing the magazine’s decision.
It is not the first time that the artist, known as La Bichota and who has just released the album “Mañana será bonito “, criticizes the aesthetic pressure against women and calls for female empowerment, which she also talks about in his songs
In this album, La Bichota collaborates with Shakira, with whom she allies herself to sing about heartbreak and throw darts at her exes.
The weight of aesthetic pressure, also in the networks and in Hollywood
A week ago, Andy McDowell also decided to stand up and defend that his appearance could truly reflect his age. The 64-year-old actress lamented that age is such a big factor in Hollywood and that it’s “harder” to find roles as you get older, and reiterated that she will continue to go dye-free and sport gray hair :
“I don’t care, I want to be old. I’m kind of trying to be young, I don’t want to be young. Being an old person trying to look young is very tiring, I don’t feel like it.”
More and more actresses, models, singers, or YouTubers decide to publicly denounce the aesthetic pressure against them in many professional fields in which the image that wins is the one that responds to unrealistic and natural patterns, which reify women and perpetuate sexist stereotypes.
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Almost two years ago, Kate Winslet, 47, also criticized the abuse of Photoshop and defended the image of the real woman “without filters”, while promoting the HBO miniseries “Mare of Easttown”, which the protagonist. Winslet returned proof of the promotional ad twice, against the advice of her own advertising team:
“I know how many wrinkles I have around my eyes, please put them back on me.”
Winslet takes every opportunity to denounce the tyranny of certain beauty stereotypes and the danger of social networks, especially among children and young people, to spread “impossible ideals” and to claim “the right to be who we are”:
“We think that our value is in our face or the shape of our body, or in the attention, they put on us or in the degree of popularity we have or the number of ‘likes’ we get compared to those of our friends. But it doesn’t matter, you have the right to be yourself.”
8 years ago, when she was only 19, the actress Zendaya already denounced an image in which her legs and waist had been slimmed without her consent. The actress and singer warned that it is “images like these that create unrealistic ideals of beauty” and affect self-esteem.
But aesthetic pressure does not only affect women. A few days ago, the singer Ed Sheeran, in an interview with RollingStone magazine, admitted that he had had bulimia to try to be as thin as other artists: “You are surrounded by people with perfect figures” and the physical appearance “finishes you making you feel uncomfortable.”
Some countries have already started to take measures to put a stop to the distortion of images in advertising or, at least so that it cannot be hidden that the images have been retouched. Norway was among the first to ban influencers from posting retouched photos without warning, and France will also require them to warn when they use beauty filters.
In Catalonia, this February, the Ministry of Equality and Feminism has also presented a pioneering action plan to combat aesthetic pressure in the world of fashion, audiovisuals, and schools.