Blog #6

According to the essay “Cosmetic Surgery: Paying for You Beauty” by Debra Gimlin, the original purpose of cosmetic surgery was to repair injuries. Gimlin says in her essay that most patients were male war victims who had returned injured or disfigured and in need of repair so as not to look repulsive in regular society or injuries from industrial accidents. But gradually through time, since the major wars, cosmetic surgery has spread to be a predominately female phenomenon. Gimlin attributed it simply to “women who are dissatisfied with their looks.” She goes on to elaborate that many women undergo the plastic surgeries because of four reasons. One, they desire to make their outer appearance match how they truly feel (like an 60 year old woman who feels like she's only 40 on in the inside). Two, they seek out surgery to please someone else (for example a woman who desires larger breasts to make her boyfriend happier). Three, children brought in by their parents who think their child has something wrong with them (usually the child thinks they look fine). And four, they want to look different for crazy reasons (for example they want to look like a famous actress). How did this transition from necessity to desire-to-look-different happen? Why are there more plastic surgeries now than ever before? To answer these simply, there are more plastic surgeries now because there are more plastic surgeons than before and woman have more rights and liberties than they did before, therefore they feel free to act on their own reasons and whims. There is also a growing problem with discrimination with women in the workforce, based entirely on how they look. This also contributes to the higher numbers of plastic surgeries as women try to conform to the world’s standards of beauty and normalcy.

Personally, I am strongly against cosmetic surgery. No matter how hard you try and how many different methods you use, eventually you will age. Why not try to age well instead of not age at all? You can age well simply by taking care of yourself all through your life, by not tanning, wearing sunblock, exercising, and eating balanced. Why not be a body outlaw and take whatever you have and flaunt it? I think many people today take plastic surgery too lightly. They have become even further victims to the consumerism society than ever before when they undergo plastic surgery, almost as if to say that if they don’t like something they can just change it. What’s to stop them from using that same principle in other areas of their lives? Obviously, though, there are some kinds of cosmetic surgery that are more acceptable than others. For example, if a person has a bad scar from something or has a strange growth somewhere on their body, then it is perfectly acceptable to have minor surgery to repair it. But I think people take it too far when they want to change the shape of their noses or cheeks or breasts or anything. In doing this they not only put themselves in great and unnecessary physical danger just to satisfy their own vanity (or the vanity of someone close to them), but they loose a great part of what makes them unique. According to one of our guest speakers this week, Iran is the nose job capital of the world. In one of the clips she showed us of some girls in Iran that were going to have nose reshaping surgeries, all stated famous Western (American) actresses that they wanted to have the noses of. But looking at all the girls, their noses looked perfectly normal and even beautiful. Beautiful because it make them look real. Beautiful because it made them look unique. Why change what makes you you?

How then can we change the trend? First, change the media representation of women, putting more variety and reality in the women that are portrayed. Change the work pressures to look certain ways and eliminate the discrimination toward women. And ultimately change the way women think of themselves into a view that they are aesthetically pleasing no matter what anyone tells them.