| Subject: Re: Plastic surgery |
Author:
Bruja
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 21:03:21 06/27/02 Thu
In reply to:
Astrid
's message, "Plastic surgery" on 23:25:41 06/26/02 Wed
<>
Of course, it depends. Certainly, the vain and the "*something* is wrong with me -- how do I fix it?" crowd will be drawn to plastic surgery. But I also think it can serve a purpose that I understand.
I recently read an article about a woman who had a nose job in her 30s. She was/is Jewish and grew up with a Mediterranean-style large, hooked nose. She decided as a teenager not to have it "fixed" because she didn't want the pseudo-WASP Barbie nose that was, at the time, her only available option. However, in later years, she found that she could have plastic surgery that left her nose "hers", even distinctive and ethnic, but modified its proportions. People didn't even know she'd had a nose job -- they asked things like "Did you get a new haircut? You look great!"
Here's another example: sex reassignment surgery. There are people out there who *need* surgery in order for their bodies to come into some sort of line with their self-perceptions. I certainly don't judge a female-to-male transsexual having a mastectomy as "vain". As with anything else, it's a line-drawing exercise -- what surgery is "valid" and what is "vain" and silly?
I think it unfortunate that our culture is so youth-focused (especially for women) that people want to create a more youthful appearance courtesy of surgical work. At some point, it is self-denying and self-hating to be pretending to be decades younger than one is. But, then again, no one judges people for appearing youthful "naturally" -- through the luck of genetics or the hard work of physical training or both. I find it hard to make a logical distinction (i.e., working out daily to appear 30 years old perpetually is OK, getting surgery to appear 30 years old perpetually is not OK).
As for $$$, I don't think spending $4000 to resurface hands is any more wasteful than spending $4000 on a cruise to Alaska. In either instance, it's spending money that could help a lot of other people meet basic needs on rather frivolous desires of one's own. Either it's OK to satisfy expensive whims or it isn't -- I don't think the nature of the whim particularly matters.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 