Cosmetic Surgery: Consumer Culture

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, tells the story of a girl named Tally Youngblood who is only several weeks away from having a life-changing surgery completed; the people that undergo the operation have their faces and bodies modified to look conventionally attractive. It’s revealed later in the book--by former members of the “Pretty Committee”--that the surgeons alter the patient’s personality and reasoning as well. At the very beginning of Part, I there read a quote from Yang Yuan, taken from the New York Times; “Is it not good to make society full of beautiful people?” Westerfeld’s story explores the implications of a society where people are socially conditioned and made to think that they are naturally ugly; at the age of 16, they are made “pretty”, as stated earlier.

Question II: Adam Audrey v. Kevin Swanson In order to regulate the alarming increase popularity of cosmetic surgery, Congress enacted the Federal Cosmetic Surgery Protection Act (FCSPA). Kevin Swanson, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is charged with the enforcement of FCSPA. Under this legislation “A person is not permitted to undergo a major cosmetic surgery procedure, except where necessary for the physical health of the person or to correct a major physical abnormality that interfere with normal appearance, unless approved by Congress a Cosmetic Surgery Approval (CSA) panel created at each facility licensed to perform cosmetic surgery”.

In her novel, “Ads R Us”, the first character we are introduced to is Barrett and another key character is Taylor. Barrett is wealthy, inquisitive and very compliant. Taylor is an incredibly spoiled 12 year old girl who is very vain. TAYLOR is treated like a princess and has gotten everything she wanted all her life. She is completely influenced by the chattering world.

Becker’s article focuses on the damaging practices and behaviors women can learn by watching reality television. Becker points out that the reality program, Are You Hot?, a show entirely focused on a female competitor’s appearance being evaluated by a panel of judges, is one such program that can lead to female viewers developing body image issues. This is said as competitors are frequently unhappy with the way they look, and they can resort to unhealthy eating habits. Throughout the article, the author effectively criticizes the show and highlights the negative side of reality television. Although the author states that parents should advise their daughters to avoid watching the show and similar programs, she fails to make note of the enlightening effects reality shows have on eating disorder research.

stories were different but one thing that they all had in common was the fact that everyone just wanted to get rid of their damn wrinkles. In chapter four, "Negotiating the Botoxed Self", Berkowitz (2017) talks about how cultural stigmas and tensions were shaped by their gendered, sexual, social classes and social locations. She found out from her research that no matter who it was, they always felt the need to justify it for themselves. Most of them chose to do it because they wanted to preserve their youth and beauty.

Plastic surgery is the rigorous medical process of altering the human body through means of reconstruction, the removal of tissue, and the addition of tissue for cosmetic purposes. People see it every day and do not even question it. People’s faces and bodies are augmented in ways that humanity sees so regularly that viewers have become blind to it. Seeing faces and bodies perfectly sculpted by knives for sharp cheekbones, fuller lips, larger breasts, and a slimmer waist has tricked society into forgetting what the average person actually looks like. Consumers have become so blind to this constant fake image that humanity does not notice the difference until an unaltered, natural image is forced down our throats.

I never smiled with my teeth exposed in photographs because I felt unattractive and embarrassed. It has taken me until I was a sophomore in college to stop taking my mother’s words personally. As noted in The Second Agreement, I have come to the realization that her words are just a projection of her insecurities. My mother sees a mirror within me and is terrified of her own reflection. She views her own teeth as ugly and uses me as a conduit for her negative emotions.

In the year 2105, the American culture is a society that thrives off of the obsession of materialism and gaining the approval of others. Culture tells us to worry about how many “likes” we get on a picture of ourselves or the number of comments that tell us how beautiful or handsome we are. Beauty will fade, but people are willing to do anything that they can to preserve it forever. From plastic surgeries for a thiner nose, to silly home remedies for a wrinkly face, we won’t stop until perfection is achieved. The writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne in the nineteenth century did not differ much from the American culture that we see today.

I had to remove my earrings from the tongue, and ears, which left visible unattractive holes. If I knew I would go through this ‘discrimination’ I would never have done these things. Its cost me great opportunities.” “There’s a misled perception that people who do body modifications are not serious, or are just seeking attention.” She said

Conformity can be accepted, but when a person rejects conformity that leads to them having self esteem issues. Society has created this perception of beauty and that has been around for many years. When people follow that idea about what is beautiful and what is not they discourage their own appearance. In Cyrano de Bergerac, Cyrano is insecure about his nose. “My old friend- look at me, And tell me how much hope remains for me with this protuberance… I wish i had a woman too, Walking with little steps under the moon, And holding my arm so, and smiling.

She ended up giving up on these magazine beauty advice, including other advice that her friends would suggest to her such as tape, make-your-own-crease glue, and sang ka pul. Chung tried it all, except the sang ka pul because she was afraid of the surgery. Her mother continuously brought up the question about whether or not she wanted to get the sang ka pul, but every time she brought it up, Chung always said no. Chung didn’t understand why her mother couldn’t accept her without creased eyes. In the end, she had realized that “He looks at the heart, and that it really doesn’t matter how a person looks” (107).

Cosmetic surgery or plastic surgery is defined as a form of medicine focused on making enhancements to the body. It is intended to correct flawed areas on the body and is restoring in its nature. This type of surgery can be performed on the head, body, and neck. During a study, performed by Dr. Jane Weston and Anne Pearl, they found out high school junior’s opinions on cosmetic surgery. According to Attitudes of Adolescents About Cosmetic Surgery, “A survey of the junior class of a California suburban high school showed that one-third of respondents would consider undergoing cosmetic surgery.”

This led her to apologize for her body, something no one should ever have to do, as well faking a smile, dieting and exercising. After faking it for so long she was worn out and as Piercy put it she, “...cut off her nose and legs...” (247). This is a very real scenario, especially in this day and age more and more girls are opting for surgery just to fit into what is considered to be “beautiful.” That may be a way of them choosing their identity but, it really shows how much of a societal impact there is on all of

Also, cosmetic procedures have increased by 39% over the past five years (from 2011) with surgical procedures up 17% and nonsurgical procedures up 44%(ASPS statistics). It shows that young women are willing to put themselves in danger because they feel the need to meet society's expectations of beauty. When going into cosmetic surgery, there is a risk of death or side effects that people are aware of, but still undergo the procedure. All because we live in a world where first impressions are made by how we look and thanks to magazines advertisements they set the “ideal” look for us and we all try to reach that look no matter how it

1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background of the Issue This report is written to find out the pros and cons of cosmetic surgery to people as well as how much cosmetic surgery has benefited people both positively and negatively. Cosmetic surgery procedures have been performed back in the early 1800s, which means it has been in existence for centuries as what history has suggested. Besides that, the development of cosmetic surgery states that it started to gain popularity since the 1970s and 1980s. Cosmetic surgery can be defined as the operative procedure as improvement of appearance is the principal purpose (Medical Dictionary for the Dental Professions, 2012).