Anti-Plastic Surgery = Anti-Beauty?
Alright everyone, I’m hoping this post is going to strike up some interesting comments and opinions. This is something that I hear over and over again from the “pro-implant” and “pro-plastic surgery” people. They seem to think that if women are against breast implants and plastic surgery then that automatically makes them against using sunscreens, anti-aging lotions, hair dyes, braces, make-up and other “products” to help them look their best and assist them in keeping their youthful appearances.
I recently read this blog where it talks about how actress and mother, Cate Blanchett openly “poo poos” plastic surgery. Cate says that she doesn’t find it attractive when people get work done and that their motivation is “self obsession” and “fear.” She also said: “For me, I think what will be sexy in 50 years time will be wrinkles. Look at a man or a woman in their 50s and all I see when they have brushed their years away with surgery is self-obsession and fear. That’s not particularly attractive.”
What I found most interesting was that in this same blog, as well as this one and this one, people were actually condemning Cate for endorsing and being a spokesperson for a skincare line called, SK-II. Cate says she uses one of their products, a moisturizing skin mask made of cotton, every morning while she makes her sons’ breakfast. Many people seem to think that Cate is being a hypocrite for saying she is against plastic surgery, but then at the same time she is using an expensive anti-wrinkle cream on her face every day.
For the life of me I cannot figure out how the two things are connected. Plastic surgery is trying to be something you are not, completely changing a body part (or multiple body parts for some people.) Using a wrinkle cream is only putting in the effort to “look your best.” I don’t know about the rest of you, but just because I am not a big fan of breast implants and plastic surgery in general doesn’t automatically mean that I don’t try and look my best everyday. But, the biggest difference in those who go under the knife to look their best; is that I am using what I was born with to look my best, just putting my best foot forward everyday. Yes, I wear make-up, I put lotion with sunscreen on my face everyday, I use hair styling products and I exercise regularly. Does that make me a hypocrite? Should I walk out of the house everyday only wearing a paper bag, with my hair disheveled, zero make-up on, and never use sunscreen just because I am not a fan of plastic surgery? I’d love to hear what others have to say on this topic.
I think that a lot of people look at women who are against things as platic surgery and immediately think feminist, unshaved legs, man hating, horrible women. Just because women feel they don’t need to pay thousands of dollars to look like someone they are not should not affect the way women are looked at.
Too often women are categorized. We are pretty, not so pretty, hot, thick, skinny, fat, bitchy, too nice, ect. Those bolgs are perpetuating the sterotyping of women. We are not a herd of cattle from which to select the best piece of “meat” we are women, people, mothers, sisters, aunts, friends, and we deserve to not want to have plastic surgery without automatically not wanting to be beautiful.
Things like this further highlight the mass stereotype of what is “beautiful”. If we do not want to have a D cup, then we do not want to be beautiful. This is part of the reason (not those blogs specifically, but the outlook in general) why so many women, myself included, struggle with body image issues.
~Melissa
Comment by Melissa — June 17, 2008 @ 11:11 am
Good post. I am against most plastic surgery (with some exceptions) but I do take care of my skin. I don’t see a conflict in that.
Those blogs that you linked to, by the way, are exploitative celebrity-focused blogs that are about the lowest on the totem pole of consciousness in the blogosphere. I don’t take their opinions seriously. These are people whose purpose in life is to be as absolutely shallow as humanly possible.
Comment by stephanie — June 17, 2008 @ 12:56 pm
You’re right, I don’t see the correlation. Using moisturizers and taking care of your skin and hair is not just using what you have to put your best foot forward, it’s also TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look younger or better. Using methods like anti-wrinkle cream and uh…brushing your hair are a lot less fake and drastic than surgery.
Comment by Jennifer F — June 19, 2008 @ 8:13 am
Geez. What is becoming of our world?! All these “tanorexic”, balloon-boobied, fish-lipped and wax-masked people walking around!! I admit - I fell victim to breast implants nine years ago, and I am now facing explantation surgery. This is not a fun thing to go through, and I would take back my hasty foolishness in a heartbeat!!
But c’mon!! Taking care of your skin is entirely different animal than going under the knife. Those people attacking Kate are just looking for a way to justify their own fears and insecurities. People really need to start focusing on other matters. There is way too much obsession about the so-called perfect body today.
Comment by Renata — June 20, 2008 @ 7:42 am
This is just my opinion. I think getting plastic surgery is no different than wearing makeup or coloring your hair or getting your nails done or wearing a girdle or pushup padded bra. When you do any of these things, you are disguising the “real” you. We wear makeup and get our hair done so that we feel better about our appearance, so we like what we see in the mirror. If we don’t like the length of our eyebrows, the blemishes on our skin, or the color of our hair, we apply makeup and dye. If we are not happy with the size of our breasts or the wrinkles on our face, we can change that too. I don’t understand why getting “fake” breasts is so frowned upon because they are “fake”, and yet no one gets so upset about bright red nails(fake), highlighted hair (fake) or green eye shadow (ever seen anyone with naturally green eyelids?) If someone chooses to get implants because she is so unhappy with her breasts because SHE feels unattractive with what God gave her, not because someone else tells her how she should look, she shouldn’t be made to feel bad about it. If she chooses to do it knowing full well the risks involved, then she has to live with possible complications.
Comment by anonymous — July 7, 2008 @ 8:19 pm
Personally, I am glad that I had breast implants at the age of 43 after breastfeeding four children. I don’t feel like I am walking around with 2 deflated bags anymore! But that was my choice, made after a great deal of research and consideration.
I respect Kacey’s postion 100% and hope that young women thinking about having implants will look at the possible side effects of having implants. However, I think the decision to have implants or indeed any other cosmetic procedure has to be down to the individual and their circumstances. By the same token, I respect Cate Blanchett’s opinion, however it is ANOTHER opinion and where I part company with her is in her passing judgment on other people who have chosen to have cosmetic procedures. That is their choice and I think she makes value judgments on other’s motivation for having surgery en masse - wheras everyone’s reasons and circumstances are different. I just hope Cate keeps her beautiful figure and looks and never in an attempt to continue to land roles in a fickle Hollywood has to eat her words! That would be hypocrosy indeed!
Comment by Elizabeth — September 2, 2008 @ 3:08 pm