Jameela Jamil Slams Beauty Filters On Instagram, Says It Prompts Teenagers To Get Cosmetic Surgeries
Instagram filters are fun, or atleast they were fun when all they did was put stupid dog ears or a halo or floating clouds in my selfies. Then, they started to get really weird and I couldn’t get one decently stupid selfie without my lips getting thicker or cheeks contoured which made me look really creepy. When did we sign up for this? Known as beauty filters, they ironically murder the natural beauty by changing your eye colour and make your skin look like a porcelain vase. Well, the concept of being real has officially gone for a toss and now we are left with the hard social media truth, which is beauty lies in the eyes of beholder Instagram filters. These days, there is a new viral camera effect on Instagram called ‘Filter Vs Reality’ which has a very phony filter on one half of the screen with long lashes, tanned skin and fuller lips and your regular camera setting on the other half, aka reality.
This filter is getting viral for a reason. Actress and activist Jameela Jamil who you might know as Tahani Al-Jamil from NBC’s The Good Place is vocal about social issues and she recently showed the middle finger to beauty filters using the ‘Filter Vs Reality’ effect. She put up a post slamming these unrealistic filters which perpetuate superficial beauty standards and prompt teens to opt for plastic surgeries at a young age to look exactly like those filters. She wrote a long caption with her video where she is flipping the filter side and smiling at the reality side of the effect.
She wrote, “Teen cosmetic surgery is at an all time high. Plastic surgeons say that kids, and now many adults bring in these filtered pictures of themselves and ask to be made to look like them.” I am not surprised. These beauty filters imply how you should be looking by accentuating the lips, smoothing out skin and adding lashes. Forget teenage girls, even adult women can start feeling insecure about their thin lips and natural complexion because of these crazy filters. And, these are one of the prime reasons that motivate young women to modify their appearances.
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Also Read: A Study Has Revealed That One Third Women Won’t Upload Pictures Without Using Filters First. It’s Sad That It’s True!
She continued in the caption, “I understand the desire to use them. But they hurt people who look at them, and they hurt the people who use them, because it’s hard to accept your real face in the mirror after these digitally face and body altering versions of you have become your every day norm.” She also suggested to stop using these filters and staying away from people who do to safeguard your mental peace, because let’s face it, seeing someone with a filtered beauty only fuels insecurity. She said, “Defund patriarchy. Don’t use the apps, and avoid people who use them if those pictures are making you hate your own face. Protect your mind. It’s hard enough to protect your body. At least we can find some emotional safety in blocking out what we don’t want to see. Block. Mute. Delete. Repeat.” I am going to live by this.
She apparently also started an Instagram trend with this cool post and a lot of girls began to post similar videos with the effect and tagged the actress. They posted their videos flipping the filters in support and I think this was much needed. A lot of bloggers like Kaushal and Dolly Singh have also criticised beauty filters on their Instagram story. Kaushal posted herself with the effect a few days ago telling her followers that filters are just a lie and natural beauty is more important. And now this powerful post by Jameela Jamil that has got a massive response from women who resonate is actually making a wave. We think this is the best way anyone could ever use the Filter Vs Reality effect. We love this.
