Rose McGowan Tackles Photoshopping In Latest 'Gram

Charmed actress Rose McGowan has been taking no prisoners as she campaigns against sexism in Hollywood and openly discusses gender fluidity. And Rose McGowan's Photoshopping post on Instagram only furthers the strong messages she has to send out into the world. Utilizing hashtag #FBF (flashback Friday), McGowan's picture seems, on the surface, to be about showing that she is still killing it in her forties. After all, she was the perfect blonde in Death Proof and she rocked the teen dream in Jawbreaker — moving on from her roles as the beautiful woman that other women want to be and men want to have, her stance on feminism would be shocking to the narrow-minded. Luckily, most of us aren't stupid enough to believe an actress is the same as the characters she plays, or that if you're beautiful, then you can't be brilliant.

In the IG picture, Rose places an old photo of herself in a blue turtleneck vest and a black skirt alongside a more recent pic of her in an almost identical outfit. She looks flawless in both, and the image seems like an innocent statement that a strong look has no age limit. After all, McGowan looks undeniably gorgeous in both pictures, even with a major age gap between them, and the outfit is cute and simple enough to bypass any fashion rules that have changed in that time.

Upon reading the caption, however, we realize that McGowan is not just making a point about ageism with her Instagram post, but one about beauty standards for women in general. Although famous for her cleft chin — an attribute that (IMO) heightens her beauty and is inspirational to anybody who's been bullied for a cleft chin — the hallmark has been Photoshopped out of both images.

As McGowan comments via hashtag #thenandnow, the same strict beauty ideals are being forced not just onto her, but onto everybody. We might think we're a hell of a lot more progressive than we used to be, but that doesn't mean we don't have a long way to go.

In the meantime, acknowledging the problematic nature of these beauty standards, and championing against them, might be a good place to start.

Images: Getty; Rose McGowan/Instagram