I think that this talk was the most interesting and relatable one that we’ve had so far. In a broader sense, this talk was all about body image, and that is something that everyone deals with at some point. One of the most interesting things that I learned was that doctoring photographs is not a new idea, in fact people have been doctoring photos since the 1870s. That completely shocked me; I didn’t think that photographers had the ability to do this back then. I think it also brings to attention the fact that cultural and social constructions of beauty and body image has been around forever. The thought of “natural” beauty is, normally, the most appealing and applauded type of beauty. But photoshop and plastic surgery change what it means to be “natural”. Plastic surgery is performed to make someone look more beautiful and natural, but plastic surgery is completely opposite from nature. And magazines praise the “natural beauty” of celebrities by putting them on their covers, but those photographs have been extensively photoshoped to make the celebrity be more “beautiful”. I knew all of these things before this talk, but having it all put out in front of me at the same time made me very uncomfortable and sort of disgusted. Eating disorders are at an all time high in women, especially younger women, and the cultural constructions of beauty are seen as real, and not the constructions that they actually are.