Meatpacking Abs

High above the Meatpacking District, a new Armani Exchange billboard has risen. It's an arresting image--mostly because there is something visually disturbing about it. Something not quite right.

It's those abs.



Did the male model swallow a cupcake pan? Is that an ab implant?

Could these abs really be real, or are they another example in the trend of rampant and vigorous airbrushing and photoshopping? Recall the whole Ralph Lauren brouhaha about what Boing Boing called the "creepily retouched" stick-thin model (who later said she was fired for being too fat).



In the UK, the government is now reaching towards a crackdown on airbrushing in ads and magazines. The Equalities Minister says it contributes to "the dreadful pressure that young people, girls and women come under to conform to completely unachievable body stereotypes."

Actress Emily Blunt recently came out against airbrushing, saying, "It makes you look like a Barbie. Who the hell looks like that?" And Liv Tyler wants to see airbrushing banned.

This week, Jezebel scooped some images from Ann Taylor featuring photoshopped "ribless monstrosities."


from Tweebie, "Hunky Ken Dolls" on flickr

The outcry is all about photoshopping's effect on self-esteem in women and girls, and that's important. But what about its effect on the body image of men and boys? Not to mention the way men are viewed and desired by others.

I don't know if the abs on the Armani Meatpacking man are real or fake. But does it even matter? Either way, we have a situation on our hands.