People are constantly called out online for using photo editing and altering apps, filters, and software to make their bodies and faces appear different than they do in real life. With the societal pressure on women to look and appear a specific way, coupled with social media's influence on young girls, many people turn to these types of tools more often than not.
But it's not often that we find parents using photo editing apps on their own children, in order to have them appear a specific way and size. Until now, that is. Recently, on the subreddit Insane Parents, a Reddit user shared a photo that a mother had posted of her children's first day of school. While it appeared to be heartfelt and normal, there was something very off about the picture.
The Reddit user posted a screenshot from the mom's Facebook page, alleging she does this "often."
The Reddit poster shared the photo on the parenting subreddit, which is used to call out parents for seemingly insane behaviors, saying that she "constantly" edits her daughter's body to look this way. Following up in comments, the Reddit user said that the mom also "denies" photoshopping pictures and that her daughter simply looks that way. "Then she deletes the comments. I genuinely cannot comprehend her motivation behind this," the redditor wrote.
Many people on Reddit agreed that it's bizarre.
Many said the photo editing was obvious due to the daughter's arm being very morphed. In addition, many agreed that it's terrible to do this to a young child's image.
"Sexualizing your own eight year old for Facebook is a new low bar but im some how not surprised," commented one Reddit user.
"Ah the good ol’ narcissist dress up doll routine," suggested another. "Who wants to bet she’ll try to impose all her failed hopes and dreams on her daughter too."
Some Reddit users said this photo could be an indication of a bigger issue.
One Reddit user shared that their girlfriend's mother was extremely abusive about body weight and image as a child, and that this photo reminded the girlfriend of her own childhood. The commenter said this photo could be a door into a world of toxic parenting.
"She would constantly tell them they’re fat, body shame them to no end," the Reddit user shared. "They would get weekly weight goals to achieve, and when they didn’t, they would receive a beating. To the point where when my gf would go to friends houses she would outright not eat in fear of getting fat."
Some people suggested that this image-altering behavior could impact her daughter into adulthood.
Aside from harming her daughter in the here and now, some were concerned that this little girl will grow up with no normal childhood photos.
"This poor girl is going to grow up without disgusting childhood photos," one person pointed out. "She’ll hit graduation, when all of her peers are bringing out childhood photos for the yearbook and THIS is what she’s going to have access too. She’ll grow up, maybe have kids of her own, and these are the types of pictures she’s going to have access to. It’s so gross and sad."
Not to mention, some people believe that this was not far from manufacturing child pornography.
In addition to giving her daughter body image issues, some people pointed out that there are many people on the internet who sexualize young children. With the mother altering her daughter's body to appear more "sexy," she's opening the door to danger.
"This might be overly simplistic, but I think if you’re photoshopping your 8 year old to have the figure of a sexually matured woman, you’re like one degree separated from manufacturing child pornography," the Reddit user wrote.
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
