Wait…Beyoncé is human?

If you haven’t seen the leaked photos of Beyoncé, you must be living under a rock. One writer looks at why the images went viral…

Nowadays there is probably not a single person who isn’t aware of the magic of Photoshop. Using it in the media is so common that, as unretouched photos of Beyoncé which recently surfaced on the internet show, the public are more surprised to see an image without retouching than with it.

We’ve become so comfortable with the perfect images that the beauty, entertainment and advertising world are constantly giving to us, that to see something real and natural is outrageous. However, the usage of tons of make-up, studio lighting and then finally heavy retouching is still more or less justifiable.

Photo: Flickr / Hollywood Branded

Photos of Beyoncé and reactions to them show an interesting paradox. About a week ago,  runway legend Cindy Crawford faced similar situation when an untouched picture went public. Crawford was encouraged and many saw it as a mature and brave step towards honesty about how we actually look. Why is it that the initial reaction to Beyoncé’s wasn’t like that? Yes, the images were probably leaked without her consent, but she has been know to have promoted the use of unretouched photos in the past, for example in her 2013 H&M campaign. Yet the internet is full of exclamations from people who can’t believe that Beyoncé actually looks this way. Why? What you  see is still beautiful Beyoncé, but with some fine lines and a few spots. That’s it.

she always looks great, but we’ve become so accustomed to it that her being shown as less than perfect is scandalous

It’s puzzling that our culture encourages some women to be natural, and not others. Especially in the case of Beyoncé, who, ironically, is the one often encouraging us to love ourselves. And yes, she always looks great, but we’ve become so accustomed to it that her being shown as less than perfect is scandalous. And yes, she has declared that she is flawless (in fact, that we all are), but flawless is an attitude. This stir has shown that our perceptions need to be changed when we are surprised that a 33 year-old woman, who has an amazing career and has a family, has a few fine lines and not quite perfect skin. What we actually should be doing is stop being delusional and demanding perfection from others or ourselves. It does not exist. Even Beyoncé knows that.