SkinniePix, an app for iPhones and Androids, lets users take 5 to 15lbs off their selfies for the one-time cost of $0.99. The app was created in March 2014 and is specially designed for iPhone5’s, though it’s also compatible for iPad users and those with i0S7.
According to the creators PrettySmartWomen, users can alter their images with two easy clicks making, “your photos look good and help you feel good. It’s not complicated. No one needs to know. It’s our little secret.”
Blogs from the Huffington Post, The Guardian and the Young Turks all have spoken out against this app for putting more pressure on women and the constant need to alter their appearance- now even in selfies, a practice some claim is narcissistic. Selfies were recently labeled a mental health disorder by the American Psychiatric Association.
One of the apps creators Susan Green justified the app to the Huffington Post.
“You’ve always heard about the camera adding 15 pounds,” Green says. “We just wanted to level the playing field.”
Green further defends SkinniePix as motivation for overweight users to add a visual for their dieting goals.
“We’re hearing now people are using it to motivate themselves to get healthy,” Green tells the Huffington Post. “That’s how I’m using that now, because I can see something that’s attainable.”
Another SkinniePix creator, Robin J. Phillips, responded to negative criticism by the Guardian by saying that the app is designed mainly for overweight users, and that the creators, “are in no way trying to minimize the serious issues related to body image.”
The Guardian had posted pictures on their website of non-overweight reporters using SkinniePix. They both looked arguably sickly.
“You totally missed the point that the app can actually help people visualize a more healthy life,” Phillips responded in their comment section.
However, the app’s website does feature a healthy-looking woman as an example- rather than an overweight user.
You can take a look at the iTunes preview for more information about SkinniePix.
