Rising Numbers of Plastic Surgery

In discussion last week, we talked a lot about the increase of plastic and cosmetic surgery over recent years. It appears that the idea of an "ideal" look has influenced many to go under the knife in order to change their appearance. An article by Medical News Today report an enormous increase in the uptake of plastic surgery by younger women. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/243034.php

In the article, Professor Laurence Kirwan, one of the world's leading plastic surgeons, has said that more and more young women between the ages of 35 and 40 years have cosmetic surgery. Kirwan states that over the past 5 years, percentage of women between the ages 35 and 40 who receive plastic surgery has increased 5% each year. Each year more and more women are undergoing operations such as liquid lifts (injections of facial fillers) and short-scar facelifts in order to look younger. "According to Kirwan, the demand for plastic surgery has increased by 250% in two years, with facelifts currently being amongst the top three procedures at his surgery." That being said, it will be interesting to see how the media and other societal influences will continue to persuade younger and younger women to undergo surgery.

Cosmetic Surgery and Feminism

It is very weird how cosmetic surgery has taken on a mainstream role and that people are feeling nonchalant about it. The current pop-cultural acceptance of cosmetic medicine is clear, and is borne out by the rising numbers of customers. Many famous celebrities have since been tagged with having cosmetic surgeries which has made them look "younger" and "better". This has become known as the "new feminism" which I view as an activism of aesthetics. The cosmetic surgery industry has repackaged and resold the feminist call to empower women into what may be dubbed "consumer feminism."

Once considered to be taboo and risky, cosmetic procedures are currently treated across a variety of media as if they were as benign and mundane as simply whitening your teeth. Not only have cosmetic procedures become more acceptable, but they're being promoted in less sensationalized ways to whole new markets. Television shows like Extreme Makeover emphasizes that point. Cosmetic surgeries are now considered normal. Is this the kind of world you want your children to grow up in?

LACMA- In Wonderland Exhibit

LACMA
In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States

Yesterday I went with my Spanish class to see the In Wonderland exhibit at the LACMA, and realized that many of the themes presented paralleled those in Social Issues in Gender and Sexuality. Male surrealist artists often used women's bodies as the symbols of their fantasies and sexual desires, and often times the women were nude. Women surrealist artists rarely used the naked male body. In fact women surrealist artists such as Frida Khalo portrayed their bodies in order to explore their emotions and creativity as well as better understand their identities. They resisted the objectification of the woman's body by constructing symbols from parts of the body such as the eyes, mouths, hands or heads. Although for male artists focused largely on the breasts, the female artists portrayed the breasts in a way that would address current dramatic social issues, such as a mastectomy.

While the male surrealist artists used women as muses, the women artists proved that they not only could be sources of inspiration, but also creators of art as well! There was a fairly common thread of these women artists not following the "traditional" gender role of mother and housewife. Although many of these women were attractive, they either remained in a noncommitted relationship, divorced, or single and embraced their independence. I'm glad that these women were able to be recognized and put into the spotlight for their important contributions for surrealist art.

Social Media and Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are on the rise in the United States, and social media sites are fueling the fire. The Center for Eating Disorders surveyed 600 Facebook users, and over half of them said Facebook contributes to insecurities about their bodies. While more women are negatively affected by Facebook, 40% of men said they had posted a comment about their bodies while only 20% of women have. As a teenager and young adult, Facebook is a vital part of our social lives and therefore almost impossible to avoid. Seeing pictures of yourself is also inevitable and instead of just dealing with seeing ourselves, we also deal with comparisons, as we can make one click and compare our past appearances or compare with our peers. In fact, 44% of people said they wished they had the body of one of their Facebook friends and feel depressed when browsing pictures.

A newer social networking site, Pintrest, is the latest to be linked to fueling eating disorders. Users create bulletin boards, like Travel, Decorating, Photography, etc., and attach pictures to these boards. Many users have a board dedicated to losing weight or being skinny with pictures of underweight models or sayings like "Make them regret the day they called you fat." With these pictures all over the site, users are bombarded with false ideas of what a good body is. A spokesperson for Pintrest recently said they are going to try and start monitoring these boards in order to not encourage these types of diseases. 

Game of Thrones and the Female Body Image

For the past few months all I have heard from my friends is: "Watch Game of Thrones, its so good!" So I finally caved and started watching the HBO series a few weeks ago. I've got to admit that it is pretty good, and I've been watching it almost constantly, but one thing has been bothering me: the difference in male and female body image as represented on the show. All of the older men are plump, unshaven, and often barbaric looking, which is very realistic. Back in those times the noble class was often overweight, a sign of wealth since they could afford to eat that much food. However, the women on the show are all stick skinny and beautiful. It is extremely unrealistic that they all look like this, with perfect makeup and curled hair. In doing so, the show echoes the societal makeup of our present day-society. Women are expected to be skinny and beautiful, even in old age, while less is expected of the men.

I also noted that the men are almost always constantly eating and drinking, but the women are not. In the dinner scenes the men are usually always talking with their mouths full as they wolf down food, but the women just sit there, never touching their plates. The only scene where a women drinks is when she is commanded to do so by her husband, and even then she only has one sip. It echoed the values of anorexia in the way the women are never shown consuming any food, and are all unrealistically skinny.

-Elle Callahan

200 Pounds Beauty

"200 Pounds Beauty" is a Korean movie which illustrates a story about the most popular female singer who had to receive plastic surgery in order to become a pop star. In the beginning of the movie, she is just an ugly girl who literally weighs 200 pounds. She can really sing and has a beautiful voice, but she is just a backstage singer who sings instead of a pop singer who has a perfect look but can’t sing. Desiring to sing on a real stage, she decides to get plastic surgery from the top to bottom. After a year, she reappears with a totally different look, gorgeous face and slim body, and the entertainment industry decides to cast her. She does become a famous pop star, but she always feels like she is missing something. She realizes that she has lost real herself after the surgery, and she lives under huge pressure of her fans finding out the original look of her. Her truth is eventually revealed, but she actually becomes happier as a lot of fans still advocate her courage and genuineness whiles some fans criticize her as an “artificial human.”

This movie is a good example of “beauty myth” how women are not fully liberated even though they achieved more economic power compared to the past. Females always have to struggle to have a better look even though they can never be satisfied with it. Beauty myth began after the Industrial Revolution, and it gets worse as plastic surgery develops, and more women choose to look better with the help from surgery. Yet, although women do not want to pursue what the society or men want from them, they cannot escape from it as the movie illustrates – if you don’t look attractive, you probably can’t do what you want to do. Inevitably, beauty myth continues, and the plastic surgery would become more popular.

Twilight

Before I start this post I want to clarify the fact that I’m a HUGE Harry Potter fan therefore I hate twilight. No I don’t hate it, it’s just that I don’t have any emotion towards it and not a big fan. I have nothing against the fans and because I know Twilight fans are over the top I don’t want anyone freaking out on me. Personally I think if you’re into the whole vampire thing you should watch True Blood. That being said I youtubed Twilight to see what comes up. This is the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2T7d8j6I5I. You don’t need watch it but the top most liked comment for this video right now is “If vampires can’t be seen in mirrors then does Edward make his hair look so gay” or other comments like “Twilight is gay and for homos” or “I hate Twilight. It’s pretty gay but so is this video”. Since when do people start using the world gay in the wrong way and set a negative meaning to it. I even Urban dictionaried it and the third definition for the word gay that came up was “often used to describe something stupid or unfortunate. originating from homophobia. quite preferable among many teenage males in order to buff up their "masculinity". Since when? Since when is ok for men to use the world gay so show their masculinity?

Therefore people should stop. The reason you don’t like Twilight is not because Edward is gay because he likes Bella and I don’t think Bella is a male. Or because Edward is too sensitive or not violent enough (I don’t understand why he needs to be physically or emotionally abusive). The reason you don’t Twilight (if we are following this Edward theme) is because he’s a controlling and overprotective stalker. Therefore next time you want to tell people why you don’t like Twilight you could say all the things I listed, or because you’re a Harry Potter fan, or because the book is really bad, the actors are bad etc. So repeat after me you cannot use the word “gay” for describing a negative thing you dislike. The word gay is used to describe a homosexual male or female. :)