Wow, that picture of Blaire with the hip pads is so offensive. Women, including the one who gave birth to Blaire, develop wide hips coz of our reproductive role - and the shape of our hips causes many women distress and diminished self-esteem. When I was a young woman, I went through a stage when I saw my hips as so hideously wide that I feared I wouldn't be able to walk through doorways and I made a habit of going through them sideways. In reality, my hips were completely normal in size, of course. But having a distorted body image like that was seen as entirely normal for females, and something we should all just suck up. There was no outpouring of sympathy for girls and women with "negative body image" or "body dysmorphia" coz "negative body image" was assumed to be commonplace amongst females and therefore trivial - and the term and diagnosis "body dysmorphia" hadn't been invented yet.

I feel for Blaire's mother - and the other women who've given birth to and raised sons who've turned out to be misogynistic female impersonators, invaders of female spaces, appropriators of all things related to our sex, and destroyers of girls and women's rights.

Your description of these "face tune" apps makes me really curious, if only from a research perspective. It all sounds like being on an LSD or ketamine trip, only one designed to feed narcissism and foster insecurity rather than to open "the doors of perception" and expand horizons. I'm glad you're wary of these apps. None of this stuff seems good for people's self-esteem.

As always, I've enjoyed our interactions on this thread as on others. I've learned a lot from you, and you've caused me to (re)think about some issues I haven't thought about for a long while.