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France is considering legislation that would it compulsory for influencers, and the Kardashians, to label any photos or images that have been filtered, or retouched in any way. The move is bound to draw the ire of influencers in the strike-besieged country.

France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire explained that enacting such a law would help “limit the destructive psychological effects of [filters and retouching] on internet users’ self-esteem.”

Can’t argue with that. Some of Instagram’s influencers might be out a few followers though.

There’s not a lot of research on the mental health repercussions of our beauty-filtered social media obsession, but in general, most psychologists agree that especially young women are growing up with a poor body image due to manipulated images being portrayed as the ‘ideal’.

It’s quite sad really as nobody looks as good as most of the celebrities we see on Instagram, not even the celebs themselves. Without an arsenal of filters, Kim Kardashian probably looks like Woody Allen.

A 2019 study by the University of Flinders found that exposure to images touting retouching disclaimers increased women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies.⁠

It would be a refreshing change to force social media users to at least acknowledge that ‘this is not my real face’, and in the process, we might just start a movement towards people embracing a little pimple here and a few stretchmarks there. At least that is something we all have in common.

#Nofilter has been a thing for quite a while and a few influencers have managed to ‘monetize’ even this movement, but we will see how much changes in France as a result of full-on legislation.

 

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To be honest, we have perhaps gone a bit too far with the airbrushing, as clearly illustrated by the wax figurine-looking Kevin Bacon in the below issue of People. Didn’t the man just turn 132 years old? Yet his face is smoother than his moves in Footloose. (Editors note: Kevin is 64). 

 I hope I look like Kevin Bacon when I hit a century.

[source:highsnobiety/insta]