Plastic Surgery

[Sophia]

Barf-o-rama.  I just strengthened  my resolve to never ever let a Barbie doll, or Bratz doll, or whatever doll is being marketed to girls, cross the threshold of my house.

My first thought upon seeing the makeovers is, "gosh, that's really impractical."  I mean, they couldn't really do anything looking like that, could they?  I wouldn't even want to spend all that precious time putting on and taking off makeup.

I don't think I'd ever go for elective plastic surgery, even if I had the money. 

[Spooky7272]

And yet women have to compete with "pretty or smart" with the majority of the men picking pretty. And these are supposedly Traditional Catholic men who should know better. So, who again is shallow? A girl can't win, if she's plain she "doesn't take care of herself" and if she does she's "vain".
I'll admit I never watched the show. I think the majority of the women could have been ok with a new haircut and Veneers. I don't think any of the women look "disgusting" (well, that one girl kinda looks like a stripper, 21st pic down) and I wouldn't wear such low cut dresses. (Or strapless, I don't do strapless). But otherwise I think they look great. (Although I think the 2nd girl looked better before rather than after.)

[aquinas138]

Well, my vanity comment is not directed only at women.  Our whole society - men and women - is shallow.  It's also misleading to say a girl is subject to a double standard, and thus implying that men aren't.  A man is essentially expected to barely take care of himself.  If he does, then he's either gay or a pompous a**.  The same double-standard is there for men.

Catering to the shallowness of society is not the answer.  If plastic surgery is the only thing a person thinks will improve his self-esteem, then he has issues.  Issues that plastic surgery will not fix.  If a person is not attracted to you because you do not look like a stripper or magazine ad, then that person has the issues, not you.  Taking care of yourself and making yourself "presentable" is not vain.  Resorting to surgery to "fix" imagined flaws in your body is.

[Spooky7272]

 Resorting to surgery to "fix" imagined flaws in your body is [vain]

Is it now?
Is it vain to get snaggly, yellow teeth whitened or straightened out? Is it vain to artificially lengthen eyelashes with mascara? Or to "fix" pale lips with lipstick? Is it vain to have some excess skin removed around your eyes so you don't look like your scowling at everybody all the time? Why is lipstick, mascara and the like "okay" but surgery is not?

[aquinas138]

 Resorting to surgery to "fix" imagined flaws in your body is [vain]

Is it now?
Is it vain to get snaggly, yellow teeth whitened or straightened out? Is it vain to artificially lengthen eyelashes with mascara? Or to "fix" pale lips with lipstick? Is it vain to have some excess skin removed around your eyes so you don't look like your scowling at everybody all the time? Why is lipstick, mascara and the like "okay" but surgery is not?

Okay, I'll back down a little.  Rather than saying cosmetic plastic surgery IS vain, I will say that it COULD BE.

I'll begin by saying that make-up and clothing can also be vain; it depends on the subjective dispositions of the person using them.  Now, assuming of course we discount vanity as motivation, as to why I would not be opposed to mascara and lipstick, whereas I might well be opposed to removing excess skin around the eyes is that in the case of elective surgery, the means employed to attain the end seem disproportionate to the benefits anticipated.  Granted, these means become ever more routine each day, and so the risks that must be factored in are lesser.  But even in the case of a routine facelift, the risks are much greater than having your teeth whitened or even wearing braces.

So, the decision to undergo elective cosmetic surgery is objectively more serious than the decision to wear make-up.  Thus, the anticipated benefit should be greater, in order to maintain a due proportion between risk and benefit.  Besides risks of complications, which are always present, even in routine procedures, the cost of the procedure has to be weighed.  A tube of lipstick certainly costs much less than a facelift, and I would say achieves a lot more for the risk/cost involved.

My problem is that because I see elective surgery as so disproportionate to the benefits, I have a hard time understanding what a motive besides vanity might be.  Everyone I have known who has had elective surgery of this type has done it to avoid looking "old".  I'm not saying that there aren't valid reasons for it; I just don't know of any.  Perhaps you could argue that modern business culture puts an unreasonable amount of stock in appearance, and that may justify it.  I don't know.

[QuisUtDeus]

I think it becomes immoral when the risks outweighs the benefits.

Getting one's stomach stapled or lipsosuction because they are unhealthily obese is different than doing it to fit a look.  I mean, those are intrusive risky procedures.

Getting collagen injections in the lips may not be as (or at all) immoral because there are lower risks, and if it makes someone feel better about themselves, I don't see the problem.  I don't think it's any more vain than a tattoo which also has risks (and which I may get someday).

It seems like most of those women didn't improve their beauty as much as they sexualized themselves - seems like they all added about 10 lbs to their chests and are letting it hang out for the world to see.  So, I think that may be more immoral than the surgery itself.

Turning one's self into an object to be lusted after in public is immoral on a lot of levels: scandalous, self-worth is based on being wanted in a sexual way, etc.  Unfortunately, American (and Western in general) culture feeds that kind of thinking.

If we're married or in a relationship and the people that should matter, our loved ones, think we look beautiful or handsome, then that really should be good enough.  Why would we want to turn someone else's head except theirs?

[ErinIsNice]

One part of me says that it's horrible how they made all these women look the same, like tacky pageant queens.  The other part of me says I'd sign up for a bunch of surgeries if I had half a chance. 
I think it's really sad that most women feel that they are not good enough the way they are.

[Johanna]

I don't like doctors or medical procedures, so I don't think that I would go for plastic surgery even if I could afford it, but I would totally take a personal trainer if I could get it.  

[Mommie2Boys]

That show annoyed the crap out of me. Looking at those pictures reminded me how much! They all have GIANT back-straining breasts, they were all made BLONDE, and does anyone else think that more than half of them looked like drag queens in their after pics? Yuck, yuck, yuck...
That being said, I don't think plastic surgery is immoral. I do like those shows like "Plastic Surgery: Before and After" on Discovery Health because alot of those people have problems, sometimes severe birth defects, and get the help they need.
Would I have some work done if money was no object? Probably, yes. I was watching a show about a woman who had sextuplets and her tummy was ten times worse than your normal after-baby sag. She had to wear a sort of girdle to keep it in. :( A plastic surgeon's wife asked her husband to help her for free and the results were amazing! He gave her an abdominoplasty and her abdomen was beautiful! So a new abdomen would be nice... :lol: Last thing on my list? Breast enlargement. Seriously, after awhile, they only get in the way. I give most of those "Swan" women a year before they went whining back to the doctor with back pain needing reductions.

[ggreg]

There are several billion people around the world who'll either go to be hungry tonight or worrying about whether they have enough to fed their family for the rest of the week.  Our minds are terribly corrupted if we have come to caring about what our fat bellies (or other people's fat bellies) look like on the outside.  Get a life why don't you?  Wake up, smell the coffee and understand what is going on with the rest of humanity.