Plastic Surgery, Acceptance, and "Me in Here"
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Apparently, fans as young as five have said they don't like her new look or the fact that she's fixed her nose.
If It Ain't Broke
I'm too old to get bent out of shape about Ashley Tisdale. But I still cringe at the story of Jennifer Grey, who made it big in the movie Dirty Dancing and then rhinoplastied herself into obscurity after plastic surgery rendered her virtually unrecognizable.
Her story made me think long and hard about the details that make us who we are, and whether or not we love them (with reservations) or wish we could leave them behind (and would...if we could.)
All-American Beauty
Today's embrace of mixed heritage and multiculturalism in advertising and fashion was unheard of a generation ago.
Back then, as an Asian-American teenager growing up in an almost all-white suburban high school, all I wanted was to be blonde-haired and blue-eyed. That was the ideal shown to me on TV and in magazines. The queen of perfection was Farrah Fawcett, the pin-up on every high school boy's bedroom wall.
Colored contacts and a bottle of peroxide liberally applied might have changed me somewhat, but short of plastic surgery, nothing could be done about my almond-shaped eyes.
Thank goodness I wasn't a young actress with money in the bank, able to indulge my whims.
Mean Girls...and Mean Women
But now I sound like I'm being catty. And as the article points out, there's a lot of resentment women feel towards other women who opt for plastic surgery. Is this due to pettiness? Jealousy? Envy? Or sadness that not all of us accept who we are - or accept each other's need to change?
The Real Me
"Hey, It's Still Me in Here" is the title of the NY Times article. But who is actually 'me' - the person we believe ourselves to be, or the one that exists based on other people's perceptions?
And if the two are radically different, how can we bring them together into a healthy, single whole?
Comments
One word jumped out at me as I read Linda’s post – the word ACCEPTANCE. It is so easy to be judgmental about any issue when looking at it from the outside-in. I am one of the women interviewed at length for the NY Tmes/LATimes article: “Hey, It’s Me in Here”. Because I interviewed over 100 women who had undergone Cosmetic Surgery, and reflected long and hard on their experiences as well as my own, I had the unique opportunity to look at it from the inside-out. What I learned is that motivations and impacts to cosmetic surgery go far deeper than most of us could ever imagine. Nonetheless, we need balance in our lives, and looking good should only be one aspect of who we are.
Lois W. Stern
Author of SEX, LIES AND COSMETIC SURGERY
http://www.sexliesandcosmeticsurgery.com
Middle-aged man is feeling down on his looks and his life. So he decides to takes some radical paths. Gets gastro-bypass surgery and loses 125 pounds. Then he goes to a plastic surgeon and has his entire body lifted, nose redone, hair implants, the works. Comes out looking 20 years younger. Takes things a step further, goes out and gets himself a new girlfriend and a classica sports car. First day, driving down the road, he gets hit by a freak bolt of lighting.
In heaven, he approaches God and says, “God, after all the changes I have made to my body, how could this happen to me now.”
God looks at the man and says, “Charlie? I didn’t recognize you.”