One woman Photoshopped around the world Advertisement

One woman Photoshopped around the world

India takes a white girl and makes her whiter

Marie Southard Ospina, a writer for, sent her picture to 21 photo editors around the world and asked them to alter it to match their country’s beauty ideals. While she admits one individual cannot possibly represent a whole nation’s idea of feminine charm, she was hoping to get an insight into what makes women attractive in various cultures.

Two things are interesting about the results of this experiment. One, the writer was wrong about how many would try to slim down her plus-sized frame. They may have airbrushed her mole away and given her a tank top (hello, Pakistan!), but with the exception of Mexico (who pretty much changed her entire face), Ukraine and Latvia, most edits stayed true to size.

Two, some Asian editors saw a picture of this Caucasian woman and thought: she is not nearly white enough. Take a bow, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.