This is the latest entry in the Thursday blog project. Our topic is would you consider plastic surgery? If so what type? Why or why wouldn't you? Plastic surgery is a sticky wicket. I see plastic surgery in two ways, medically necessary and cosmetic.
When I first read the question, I thought about writing some feminist piece about how we need to accept our bodies they way they are. Our bodies are actually pretty amazing things. I created three amazing individuals with my body. I fed them, and grew them into beings that could subsist on their own. The potential of these kids is awesome, and my body did that.
I wear the extra flubber, saggy breasts and stretch marks with a certain level of pride. Well, pride isn't really the right word, perhaps acceptance. Plastic surgery, to achieve some sort of perfection as defined by a picture in a magazine really isn't part of my reality.
It irks me that people, mostly women, feel that they aren't good enough unless their breasts are large enough, their bellies flat enough, their noses small and straight enough. We need to work harder to be healthy and accept the hand that G-d dealt us. It irks me when people get poison injected into their faces so that they can look younger. Plastic surgery, for purely vanity reasons is in my mind, a risk not worth taking.
That said, my very crunchy, super-hippy, vegetarian sister had breast augmentation. She had her breasts removed because of breast cancer. In the end, her breasts were perkier and bigger than when she started. It was sort of a happy accident, at least that was how she described it. I never really thought that what she did was "plastic surgery," although it was. She was attempting to restore what cancer had taken from her. To achieve some level of normalcy.
When I worked in retail, almost a lifetime ago, one of my co-workers had breasts so large that her cup size was some place in the middle of the alphabet. I don't remember what letter it was but was in the neighborhood of H. She was working nights at the retail store to save up enough money to pay for her surgery. I quit that job before she had enough money, but I am confident that if I saw her now, her breasts would be smaller.
But, if you were to totally apply my believe that our bodies are perfect the way that they are, then couldn't you also say that what my sister did was out of vanity? Should my co-worker have accepted the hand that G-d had dealt her? It is a hard line to draw, because to some extent, I believe that people that have plastic surgery are trying to achieve what they think is normal. What ever that means.
I might have plastic surgery some day, who knows life is short. I can tell you, my nose won't change, I won't have a face lift or liposuction. If I loose my breasts to cancer, I will probably get that fixed. If I am disfigured in an accident, chances are I will want that corrected. Hopefully, I won't have to make those types of decisions. For now, the scars on my body are here to stay. Some are reminders (like my cancer scar that reminds us to use sunscreen), and others are part of the story of my life.
While plastic surgery is not for me, at least right now, if it is for you, well that is part of your story. Want to see if it is for any of the other ladies? Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, Merrylandgirl.
When I first read the question, I thought about writing some feminist piece about how we need to accept our bodies they way they are. Our bodies are actually pretty amazing things. I created three amazing individuals with my body. I fed them, and grew them into beings that could subsist on their own. The potential of these kids is awesome, and my body did that.
I wear the extra flubber, saggy breasts and stretch marks with a certain level of pride. Well, pride isn't really the right word, perhaps acceptance. Plastic surgery, to achieve some sort of perfection as defined by a picture in a magazine really isn't part of my reality.
It irks me that people, mostly women, feel that they aren't good enough unless their breasts are large enough, their bellies flat enough, their noses small and straight enough. We need to work harder to be healthy and accept the hand that G-d dealt us. It irks me when people get poison injected into their faces so that they can look younger. Plastic surgery, for purely vanity reasons is in my mind, a risk not worth taking.
That said, my very crunchy, super-hippy, vegetarian sister had breast augmentation. She had her breasts removed because of breast cancer. In the end, her breasts were perkier and bigger than when she started. It was sort of a happy accident, at least that was how she described it. I never really thought that what she did was "plastic surgery," although it was. She was attempting to restore what cancer had taken from her. To achieve some level of normalcy.
When I worked in retail, almost a lifetime ago, one of my co-workers had breasts so large that her cup size was some place in the middle of the alphabet. I don't remember what letter it was but was in the neighborhood of H. She was working nights at the retail store to save up enough money to pay for her surgery. I quit that job before she had enough money, but I am confident that if I saw her now, her breasts would be smaller.
But, if you were to totally apply my believe that our bodies are perfect the way that they are, then couldn't you also say that what my sister did was out of vanity? Should my co-worker have accepted the hand that G-d had dealt her? It is a hard line to draw, because to some extent, I believe that people that have plastic surgery are trying to achieve what they think is normal. What ever that means.
I might have plastic surgery some day, who knows life is short. I can tell you, my nose won't change, I won't have a face lift or liposuction. If I loose my breasts to cancer, I will probably get that fixed. If I am disfigured in an accident, chances are I will want that corrected. Hopefully, I won't have to make those types of decisions. For now, the scars on my body are here to stay. Some are reminders (like my cancer scar that reminds us to use sunscreen), and others are part of the story of my life.
While plastic surgery is not for me, at least right now, if it is for you, well that is part of your story. Want to see if it is for any of the other ladies? Check them out at: Froggie, Momarock, Merrylandgirl.
great post! :)
ReplyDeleteI really liked this! I think the difference is in the fact that your sister and your friend did what they did to continue forth as you said, with some normalcy. We all want to feel normal. It's not just about looking normal, but feeling it. Women who get boob jobs and tummy tucks just so they can win a wet t-shirt contest, the priorities are completely different. I really appreciated this post!
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