Photoshop, monster or savior?

In the above picture, Kim Kardashian's curves were taken in, her legs slimmed, and her veins smoothed over/covered up. (See her response on her blog.)

So, after seeing this photoshopped picture of Kim Kardashian from Animal NY, I passed it on to chibi to discuss the ramification of taking away a woman's natural curves and flaws with photoshop and whether that is an acceptable thing to him. His response was very short: "why not? photoshopping is OK." Next, he sent me this picture with Madonna before and after photoshop...


The immediate response was EW!! This is not so much wrong because Madonna looks old and wrinkly (coz she is and it's natural), and I'm not disagreeing with the photoshop here. What was grossly wrong is that Madonna is still wearing skimpy clothing and showing off her thighs. So obviously, photoshop is the only reason allowing Madonna to do this age-defying and highly inappropriate display of skin. With all her redeeming qualities, I wish she would alter her "style" and age more gracefully instead of holding on so dearly to her reputation of pushing the envelop. In any case, I now ardently believe in the extent that photoshop has permeated our perception of beauty, as I find myself honestly leaning towards the "cleaner" and "leaner" pictures of these two women. Secretly, I'm admitting, maybe that's why I didn't think that I have much physical beauty...And the truth is, photoshop is keeping Madonna's career life artificially long (as medicine is keeping our lives artificially long too). Good or bad, I'll leave it up to you to decide.