Even Penelope Cruz' Boobs Are Uneven.

OK so insanely busy week with all the business of back to school, the toughest training week for this whole Ironman thing, general life and whatnot, but this I had to share.

You old-schoolers know I've had my own personal cage matches with fashion magazines, and in reading my story all this time you've no doubt seen that the effects of our cultural intoxication with Hollywood on young girls and women can go a lot deeper than just simply causing body image issues.

See, this thing, this obsession with perfection gets into your blood like some kind of a virus and infects your perception of everything about yourself. It makes you doubt and fear, and can even make you stumble through conversations because you're so nervous you'll just sound stupid. I see it everyday in girls, their withdrawing and putting up walls and convincing themselves they're "bad" or "not good enough" either in whole or part. I also see them overcompensating in ways, and know from experience this is simply the result of some unconscious piece of self fighting against the would-be identity annhialation.

But some girls get confused in their desperate fight for their lost sense of control and empowerment, and thus make the wrong choices with permiscuity, social suggestibility, etc. Fortunately, I went the other way and took on things others thought were impossible in order to try to reclaim a sense of self-acceptance and empowerment; 24-credit hour semesters while working full time, a couple years of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (a mixed martial art that's foundation is ground fighting, not something many women do), eventually marathons, triathlons... Ironman. I made the best out of some pretty damaging media-conditioning because I was lucky to have always had supportive women in my life, but in spite of having had these great role models, you see I still fell into the covergirl trap.

I see girls every day who don't have such positive role models, and I cringe to think of them standing on the front lines without any cover. Because of this I've kind of made it a mission of mine to put information out there that might help immunize girls before they get sucked in like I did (heads up, those Bratz dolls should all be burned - disgustingly overly sexualized 'teen' dolls marketed to 6-12 yr-olds?? OMG!), as well as those who already have been sucked in and are perhaps still struggling to get out.

It's been a long road for me. I've studied and researched and educated myself into oblivion, I even teach a graduate course in adolescent behavior and identity development because of all this, though here I am at 33 years old just now starting to live completely free of the media programming. And I wasn't even one you might consider "at risk", but that's our mistake as a society. All girls are at risk. They should all be told the truth - even Penelope Cruz' boobs are uneven, baby... you're beautiful.

Shot before retouching by Iwanex Studios.

Shot after retouching by Iwanex Studios.

To see more celebrity and other cover model retouches click here and then click on the "portfolio" link at the top of the page. Choose a picture, mouse over for the before, mouse off for the after, then click on the picture again to go back to the rest of the shots.