Superficial World Records Encourage Superficial Deeds
Brazilian Carnival celebrity Angela Bismarchi has her eye on a prize: to be the Guinness World Record holder for having the most plastic surgery. At 42 procedures, Angela is closing in on current world-record holder Cindy Jackson, who bills herself as the “Living Doll” and has her own line of skin-care products, which, I would guess, help minimize scarring.
When I first saw the news article about this, I thought, Brazil is making Angela a celebrity for this? It seemed so odd. Then the article explains:
Bismarchi’s unabashed passion for plastic surgery has made her a celebrity in this image-mad country, where even the poor get surgical enhancements on the installment plan. Brazilians see no shame in touching up their bodies, which are routinely exposed at carnival and flaunted on the beach in thong bikinis so tiny they’re called “dental floss.”
Ahh…that explains a lot. But after a little more thinking, I realized that I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge the Brazilian culture, because after all, our own country is doing the same thing. Look at Anna Nicole Smith and Pamela Anderson.
It used to be that people were celebrated for achievement or success. But in this case, it’s really the plastic surgeons who are the success stories. They have manufactured a PR campaign powerful that it has changed the way we look at ourselves, celebrity and women. How sad to be a celebrity for something not of your own merit or good work, to be famous not for something worthwhile that you did, but for how many times you were willing to go in and out of rehab or “caught” with no panties on. If we as a society keep “celebrating” these tragic and tragically silly stories, how can we encourage and expect true brilliance? When was the last time an extraordinary deed was celebrated in your own community?
I hope Angela and women like Angela are working half as hard on what they are inside as they working on their outside. With the surging demand for cosmetic surgery, if such inward effort were also happening, then there should be some real positive impact on the world we live in.
TAGS: 
plastic surgery, 
cosmetic surgery
I read that article and was saddened by that fact that someone so young …finds their own body so IMPERFECT that they have under gone 42 procedures in an attempt to acheive perfection. PERFECTION in whose eyes??? Society has taught us that NO ONE is perfect…and yet “they” keep on pushing young women to alter what they were born with to achieve the PERFECT BODY and FACE. When and where will it stop??
Pam
Comment by Pam — January 29, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
I am a Brazilian girl, and I have to say I feel really offended by that article, specially by that paragraph. It is completely prejudicial. I think that the world has a very prejudicial view of Brazil overall and articles like this aren’t exactly helping.People tend to judge an entire country by Amazon forest, Rio’s carnival and general southeast stories. I know that some (emphasis on the some) serious issues are covered world-wise, but I just don’t see them making to the larger audience.
“even the poor get surgical enhancements on the installment plan.”
Which would be funny, you know, if their installment plan actually did anything for them.
“Brazilians see no shame in touching up their bodies” - you could use a generalization like that for pretty much any western society (which is also a generalization, but I think you know what I mean).
I really agree with you on how people with a plastic surgery addiction are not a matter of celebration - it’s sad that some women feel that they need to change their physical aspects so drastically and are never satisfied with the results, it’s just a despair to fit in this “image-mad” society and in Bismarchi’s case, to gain a certain fame. (Though, honestly, I don’t think I have heard of her until now, or didn’t consciously acknowledged her.)
Comment by Bruna — January 29, 2008 @ 9:05 pm
Hey Bruna, WOW! what a perspective you have as a Brazilian girl. Thanks for sharing it with us. You educated me on even more about pigeon holing a whole country and the women in it! Thanks for the broader view.
Comment by Mary — January 31, 2008 @ 11:54 am