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Jewish World Review
Feb. 18, 2005
/ 9 Adar I, 5765
Dangerous beauty
By
Lia Macko
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Last week an ordinance was proposed in pet-friendly West Hollywood to ban painful cosmetic surgeries for pets including the cropping of animals' ears, docking of their tails, and other "non-curative" procedures that primarily serve the superficial desires of pet owners. While that is good news for Fido and Fifi, there's a burgeoning nationwide preoccupation with plastic surgery among teens that deserves to receive as much attention.
In this Nip/Tuck era, images of physical perfection abound. MTV's I Want a Famous Face profiles the cosmetic surgery of young people who want to look like their favorite celebrities. A year after a gastric bypass surgery, 21-year-old Jeannette reports feeling 'foxy and ferocious' after undergoing a body lift to further enhance her resemblance to actress Kate Winslet. Similarly, in a quest for Brad Pitt's distinctive good looks, 20-year-olds Matt and Mike — contestants (or rather patients) on the same show — both opt for nose jobs, chin implants, and porcelain veneers in the hopes of improving their professional opportunities in Hollywood and their personal luck with women.
Contestant Sha, a 19-year-old Texan, gets breast implants, lip implants and liposuction under her chin because she aspires to look more like Pam Anderson and hopes to follow in the actresses' footsteps as a Playboy playmate. In a post-op interview about her surgery posted on MTV's website Sha describes the perks of her improvements. "It was worth it because I love all the attention I have gotten and it has made me feel so much better about myself." The message is clear: Beauty and perceived perfection are commodities; external changes can automatically improve lives. Where hopes at rectifying youthful imperfection used to come in a bottle of Cover Girl foundation or an 80s perm, they now increasingly come from the surgeon's knife.
But MTV is not the only entity fueling the trend. Photo airbrushing is marketed to families to 'clean up' Jill or Johnnie's complexion or whiten Besty's teeth in school photos. Mainstream plastic surgery blockbusters Extreme Makeover and The Swan extol the 'quick fix' transforming power of the craft. And an explosion of celebrity journalism provides an endless supply of gossipy updates on high profile (and youthful) plastic surgeries: Was Tara Reid's accidentally exposed breast real or wasn't it?
With all of this celebrated and seemingly consequence free exaltation of perfect bodies and faces, it's no wonder teens are requesting plastic surgery as a graduation gift or spending overblown allowances on anti-aging procedures. From 2002 to 2003, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of girls 18 and younger who got breast implants nearly tripled — from 3,872 to 11,326. (Though the American Society of Plastic Surgeons sites a much lower number, their research also notes a 24% increase in 2003.) Additionally, 2,513 nose jobs and 15,973 ear surgeries were performed in 2003, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. What's more, there were 5,606 site injections of Botox in teens 18 and under in 2003, as opposed to 534 in 2002. Why would teens need botox treatments? In addition to medicinal purposes they have their foreheads frozen to prevent future wrinkles or shoot up under their arms to stop perspiration, according to surgeons.
Once people start spending on plastic surgery, it is sometimes hard to stop — just ask Joan Rivers or Michael Jackson. It's a potentially dangerous addiction, especially when young people use conventional methods not to reverse signs of aging, but as a means of furthering an insatiable quest for physical perfection. In these cases, plastic surgery becomes a matter of beauty maintenance on par with the weekly manicure or eyebrow waxing, and the availability of creative financing and credit further dilutes financial barriers. A recent Oprah guest and self-described plastic surgery addict has undergone 26 surgeries at the age of 28. The guest — who could have passed as Julia Roberts' younger sister prior to the series of procedures, but resembles a Mattel Barbie doll in her current state- - claimed she had yet to arrive at the perfect nose and still aspired to a body lift though she had maxxed out credit cards to cover earlier treatments. Another young guest obsessed with plastic surgery said she eventually posed nude for cash to fuel her addiction.
Emotional harm and maturity is only part of the equation. Physical health risks exist with multiple plastic surgeries, not only with respect to the long-term impact of early breast implants, and the likely need for eventual replacement, but with repeated risks associated with any surgical procedure — from anesthesia-related complications to post-operative infections. And to be clear, ti is the media, not plastic surgeons that be may downplaying the normal risks of surgery. Spokespersons for the industry have even expressed concern about what the reality shows on this front. "With the increasing popularity of plastic surgery, combined with the reality show Extreme Makeover, it could be easy for the general public to overlook the serious nature of elective cosmetic surgical procedures," said Rod Rohrich, MD, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, in a press release. "But what the public needs to know is that at the highest level of care, every surgery has risks as well as benefits."
In addition to the potential for individual harm, there is an absolutely certain cultural harm related to the mass pursuit and glorification of physical perfection. In her 1992 bestseller, The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf describes a $33 billion thinness industry, a $20 billion youth industry, and a $300 million cosmetic surgery industry and admonishes the commercial forces propelling women towards never ending external improvements. The marketing of plastic surgery to a younger and younger clientele only intensifies a conspiracy that requires women to be evaluated by homogenized perceptions of beauty instead of more integrated and realistic virtues. Why would any of us want to live in a world that requires all of us —from 14-year-olds to 50-year-olds — to have Britney Spears' breasts, Reese Whiterspoon's nose and a 4-year-olds' crease free forehead? All women are the losers in this game and we are already in the fifth inning if 20-somethings are scheduling Botox injections and teens are requesting painful surgical procedures as presents. It used to be said that actresses over 40 had a hard time finding work in Hollywood. Instead of converting that mantra into an old wives' tale, why do we want to encourage or tolerate media practices that will ultimately that lower that age to 25?
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JWR contributor Lia Macko has served as a senior and executive cable news producer and is the co-author of a book about Gen-X women and power titled Mid-Life Crisis at 30: How the Stakes Have Changed for a Generation and What to do About It. She writes frequently about womens' issues and received a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.
© 2005, Lia Macko
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