New smartphone app under fire for allowing users to edit photos to appear ‘more manly’
The 'Manly' app has been slammed by body positive activists
A new smartphone app has come under fire for allowing users to edit photos to appear “more manly”.
The Manly app gives men the option to edit their appearance to make themselves look more masculine by adding muscle tone, facial hair, tattoos or tans.
The controversial app, which costs £4.99, encourages users to “meet the manly version of yourself” and allows them to give themselves clearer skin, add accessories and even coloured contact lenses.
Denise Hatton, co-founder of the Be Real Campaign, an organisation determined to change attitudes toward negative body image, told The Independent that the app perpetuates unrealistic male body ideals.
She said: “A lot of people think body image struggles only affect women, but we’ve seen an increasing number of men desperately trying to live up to the male beauty ideal that we constantly see across the media and advertising – a ‘fit, ribbed and bulky’ body.
“Apps like Manly play into the damaging narrative that to be considered an attractive man, you need to look a certain way, making it extremely toxic for impressionable young men.”
The app was released last year, but has sparked outrage due to its social media campaign which features edited photos of men, women and children.
Many social media users have labelled the app “upsetting,” “wrong,” “degrading” and claimed it fuels “horrendous stereotypes”.