5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Our thoughts about the famous Cracked.com.

5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby gisambards » Thu Mar 12, 2015 4:07 pm

Has anyone else noticed how the best and more balanced of Cracked's on feminist issues are written by their female writers, and yet the men get to write them much more often?

A certain lack of self-awareness is at play, methinks.
  • 13

User avatar
gisambards
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 2088
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:45 pm
Show rep

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby jbobsully11 » Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:54 pm

link

I see they changed the title for some reason because of course they did. Also, I lol'd at the phrase "goofy-shoe contests" when she was talking about fashion shows.
  • 5

Crimson847 wrote:In other words, transgender-friendly privacy laws don't molest people, people molest people.

(Presumably, the only way to stop a bad guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law is a good guy with a transgender-friendly privacy law, and thus transgender-friendly privacy law rights need to be enshrined in the Constitution as well)
User avatar
jbobsully11
TCS Moderator
TCS Moderator
 
Posts: 3644
Joined: Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:22 pm
Location: not the outskirts of nowhere anymore, NJ, USA
Show rep
Title: The Chronically Underemployed

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby LegionofShrooms » Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:18 am

gisambards wrote:Has anyone else noticed how the best and more balanced of Cracked's on feminist issues are written by their female writers, and yet the men get to write them much more often?

A certain lack of self-awareness is at play, methinks.

Someone made a very good point about Cracked's brand of feminism.

For a movement that's supposed to be about female empowerment and equality, they sure do focus on the male side a lot. It's always "X Reasons Being an X Woman Is Worse Than Being an X Male" or "X Things That Show Modern Men Are Sexist" or "X Reasons X Is Secretly Sexist".

It seems like they focus a lot more on male shaming and driving a wedge between the two genders than actually just letting an article be about equality and female empowerment. And even when they do allow such an article, they still find a way to muck it up.

And gods forbid you dare criticize them on the matter, even if you're a feminist because clearly you're practicing the wrong kind of feminism and how dare you suggest we here at Cracked are in the wrong, you troll or misinformed fool.

But don't worry, women! Big, strong Cracked is here to protect you. We'll tell you what feminism is about and why you should feel the same way as us and shelter you from those awful, awful men. After all, we can't have a pro-female article that's just about female empowerment and badass women being badass. Nonono, there needs to be some sort of blaming and shaming, some kind of controversial, inflammatory and accusatory stand taken.

Hmm? What's that? There's no actual conflict in a given article or on a topic? Never fear! We here at Cracked will make some, even if it's unnecessary! After all, if we don't find a group of people to accuse to stir up controversy, then where is the clickbait justice?

[/sarcasm][/rant]

Footnote: I may be just a touch bitter about this particular subject whee Cracked is concerned.
  • 15

Last edited by LegionofShrooms on Sat Mar 14, 2015 4:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Tell your momma, tell your poppa, tell your sisters and your brothers, tell your lovers, tell your children, tell your dominatrix:

The Writing Workshop is where all the cool kids hang out.
LegionofShrooms
TCS Irregular
TCS Irregular
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2015 11:23 pm
Location: Oh you know... Around...
Show rep
Title: Mastermind of Fungi Based Evil

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby EstebanColberto » Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:45 am

Real feminism? In my Cracked article? It's more likely than you think!
  • 11

User avatar
EstebanColberto
Time Waster
Time Waster
 
Posts: 1142
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 10:33 pm
Show rep

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby Jack Road » Fri Mar 13, 2015 6:12 am

gisambards wrote:Men get to write them much more often


Aside from the columnists, articles are picked out from the Writer's Forum by the Editors. So before we can say that men "get" to write these articles more often, we should first ascertain if they aren't just writing them more often.
  • 3

Jack Road
TCS Guerilla
 
Posts: 3507
Joined: Sat Feb 15, 2014 8:38 pm
Show rep

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby Crimson847 » Fri Mar 13, 2015 6:43 am

gisambards wrote:Has anyone else noticed how the best and more balanced of Cracked's on feminist issues are written by their female writers, and yet the men get to write them much more often?

A certain lack of self-awareness is at play, methinks.


I've noticed the same thing with other social justice issues. For instance, when someone gets huffy about the term "black" ("THEY'RE AFRICAN AMERICAN YOU RACIST PIG!") it's almost always a white person.

My suspicion is that it's a combination of implicit prejudice ("we have to protect those fragile, dainty wimmenz from the big, nasty MRAs!") and/or a desire to prove that they're not like those other guys/whites/straights/etc. Not saying at all that it's wrong for a member of a powerful group to stand up for a member of a less powerful group, but some people seem to be so eager to do so that they go further than said minority actually wants them to.
  • 14

"If it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them; but the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
User avatar
Crimson847
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 3195
Joined: Sun Feb 01, 2015 5:18 am
Show rep

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby ShuaiGuy » Fri Mar 13, 2015 2:32 pm

<Redacted>
  • 8

Last edited by ShuaiGuy on Sun Jan 03, 2016 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ShuaiGuy
Time Waster
Time Waster
 
Posts: 1565
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:38 am
Show rep

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby Tesseracts » Fri Mar 13, 2015 3:36 pm

Lately I think Cracked has been taking stances that are too extreme. This article could either by about how Photoshop is worse than Hitler, or about how beauty standards can never change no matter how much we protest. This article seemed to be promoting the latter view to me.

I've looked at enough old illustration to know making women unnaturally skinny wasn't invented when Photoshop was invented. However, that doesn't mean beauty standards can and won't change. They have changed significantly in the past decade, and pretending otherwise seems to be either ignoring evidence, or worse, deliberately exaggerating to have a more controversial article.
  • 9

User avatar
Tesseracts
Big Brother
Big Brother
 
Posts: 9653
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2013 5:31 am
Show rep
Title: Social Media Expert

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby gisambards » Fri Mar 13, 2015 3:39 pm

ShuaiGuy wrote:I actually didn't think this article was well-balanced.


Oh, it wasn't. But in comparison to some of the men's articles it was a breath of fresh air. At the very least, it was talking about the issue from what could be seen as a proper feminist perspective, as opposed to the misguided ironically misogynistic misandry we usually see.
  • 1

User avatar
gisambards
TCS Junkie
TCS Junkie
 
Posts: 2088
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2015 11:45 pm
Show rep

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby Taluun » Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:02 pm

For the record, the writer of the photoshop article actually agrees with some of the more ridiculous articles on feminism such as the article about badass women from history. She even believes that they should have changed the article to an even more divisive title than what they did.

http://www.cracked.com/forums/index.php ... msg3357627

Based on some of her previous work I wouldn't be surprised if she was a large contributor to their general ideas on feminism.
  • 3

User avatar
Taluun
Jedi Knight
Jedi Knight
 
Posts: 819
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2015 6:54 pm
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Show rep

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby Australia » Fri Mar 13, 2015 4:52 pm

Oh, please, what do women know about feminism?

Image
  • 13

YamI JamesT Eyebrows Edgar Logan Eric Michael Tess Sunny Notch Kate Jamish Lao Carp Moo FaceCitizen Aquila Nisi Qinglong Chaise Nullbert NotCIAagent JackRoad Delta MURDA Bert Czar Ambi JulyJack Adric Marcuse SilverMaple Nudge 52xMax Damiana Doma Pumpkin Toy Fry Andro Carrie Snarky Royal RLG Pikajew Windy skooma Kleiner Java Sellers Piter Gisarmbards Grimstone Recluse Esteban Syrup Krashlia Twistappel MacReady Funkotron mcfooty Pseudoman Creepy Kivutar nerd Ladki Jim Youghurt satan GL Angler
Scari
User avatar
Australia
Resident Dickhead
Resident Dickhead
 
Posts: 4227
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 6:15 pm
Location: Take a wild guess
Show rep
Title: Kentucky Fried Colonel

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby archaeologydalek » Fri Mar 13, 2015 5:10 pm

REDACTED
  • 9

Last edited by archaeologydalek on Wed Apr 13, 2016 10:55 am, edited 2 times in total.
archaeologydalek
Frequent Poster
Frequent Poster
 
Posts: 220
Joined: Mon Nov 25, 2013 1:36 pm
Show rep

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby ShuaiGuy » Fri Mar 13, 2015 5:11 pm

<Redacted>
  • 4

Last edited by ShuaiGuy on Sun Jan 03, 2016 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ShuaiGuy
Time Waster
Time Waster
 
Posts: 1565
Joined: Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:38 am
Show rep

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby Taluun » Fri Mar 13, 2015 5:34 pm

archaeologydalek wrote:Considering that she only joined the site as a staffer several weeks ago, I don't think this is likely.


She has been a part of their forums for years now with over 4000 posts on the forums. Whether she was is a part of the staff or not does not change that she could have influenced it. That being said its hardly a point worth arguing over as it was pure speculation on my part.
  • 4

User avatar
Taluun
Jedi Knight
Jedi Knight
 
Posts: 819
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2015 6:54 pm
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Show rep

Re: 5 Reasons Getting Mad at Photoshop is Pointless

Postby sunglasses » Fri Mar 13, 2015 5:46 pm

archaeologydalek wrote:In actual fact, I’d consider “Ancient Discoveries That Prove Archaeology is Sexist” to be a more representative title (relatively speaking, anyway). There’s an entire branch of archaeological theory that discusses the representation of women in the archaeological record/profession and it’s a fascinating read. If you’re studying archaeology (like I was), I’d highly recommend it (as well as its sister subject, queer archaeology).


I do agree that the views of women and matriarchal societies in ancient culture is absolutely facinating. In fact, I think I mentioned (but I'm not certain) that gender roles have not always been viewed as rigid and this is certainly seen in archaeology and in studies of various tribal persons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-Spirit

Anyway, in regards to the photoshop article- My own personal view is that various lighting tricks and photoshop needs to be made aware to people, especially younger people. I first became aware of photoshop, so to speak, in my twenties and it made me aware that I needed to stop beating myself up so much because some of the women I wanted to look like....didn't exist. Making people more aware of photoshop can help, I think.
  • 9

TCS Etiquette Guide

Rules and FAQs

Zevran wrote:Magic can kill. Knives can kill. Even small children launched at great speeds can kill.
User avatar
sunglasses
TCS Moderator
TCS Moderator
 
Posts: 11541
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 2:52 pm
Show rep
Title: The Speaker of Horrors.

Next

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests