Marie Southard Ospina’s experiment for Bustle saw only three attempts to slim her down.
This is a picture of Marie Southard Ospina.
She's a plus-size Colombian-American fashion and beauty editor. In a recent post for Bustle, she mused on the nature of perfection.
Marie Southard Ospina / bustle.com
I would be lying if I said I didn't actually care about how others perceive me. I select the photos I use on my blog or in my work carefully. I don't try to conceal my fatness or pretend not to have a double chin or anything, because I actually do like being plus-size, and I enjoy the wobblier areas of my body and my high-boned yet chubby cheeks. But I do tweak lighting. I do angle my face in the way I know will make it look more glamorous or beautiful or interesting.
She was inspired by two experiments – the first by journalist Esther Honig, who had her face photoshopped in over 25 countries to investigate beauty standards. Shortly after that, a biracial woman, Priscilla Yuki Wilson, carried out a similar experiment.
Ospina wondered: What would this result mean for a plus-size woman? As she wrote: "There are certain repeated phrases thrown around at women of size quite consistently: 'You have such a pretty face; if only you lost some weight.' 'You're pretty for a big girl.'" She added that "in countries like the U.S. or the U.K. being fat is (although quite common) perceived as an inherently negative thing."
So what would happen if a plus-size woman repeated Honig's experiment? Would they all, for example, try to slim her down? She paid 30 "experts" (their abilities varied) around the world an amount they set themselves (up to $30) to go to work on her picture.
And this is what happened...
India
India, like Sri Lanka, made liberal use of the airbrush. Ospina wrote that it gave her face a "softer, less angled feel".
Marie Southard Ospina / bustle.com
