Are The Pictures Real?

With pornography, what you see is not what you get. You can think of the sexiness or glamour of pornographic pictures as a thin artificial film over a less interesting reality. After all of the plastic surgery, makeup, clothing choices, flattering poses, lighting adjustments, soft focus, long photo shoots, photo touch-ups, and marketing, the erotic picture you see may have little resemblance to the real person behind it.

When you see a pornographic image, it is probably not the real person behind the picture, or the skin exposure, or the activity depicted, that is most captivating. It is rather the artificial glamor of the presentation that is seductive. If you could see through the glamor, the reality would be less interesting and less captivating.

Here are some examples that illustrate just one step in the process of taking an ordinary woman and removing real or perceived flaws to make the picture more captivating. These are portions of screen-shots of photos before and after touch-up.

You can also watch a film from the Dove Self Esteem Fund called How did our idea of beauty become so distorted?

The cover-up goes beyond the visual and physical. A sexy picture you see in a magazine may be so attractive to you in part because it shows all of the glamor and beauty of an "ideal" woman, but none of the inconveniences of a real one. In your imagination, the woman in the picture is flawless – all pros and no cons – while you are all too familiar with the little annoying habits of a real woman. In reality, the woman behind the picture is probably rather earthly and quite similar to your own female neighbors and relatives, with habits and needs that would quickly drain the glamor from your perception of her, if you were to spend some time with her in the real world.