Cosmetic Surgery And Beauty Standards

Throughout the years, the definition of beauty constantly changes. In our society today many children are told to be true to themselves, to be unique, to be who they are, etc.; But on the other hand social media and the celebrities on there are a constant reminder that there is a certain type of beautiful. The juxtaposition between being yourself and being what is “beautiful” has consistent grey areas and blurred lines making it almost impossible to keep up with what’s “beautiful”. The media, whether intentional or not, portrays this certain body image that you have to be in order to qualify as beautiful.

The article Cosmetic Surgery and the Cultural Construction of Beauty by Lorrie Blair and Maya Shalmon uncover the never ending popularity of cosmetic surgery. They base their sayings on many articles and researches presented in the March

In the article “Plastic Surgery Junkies: Why Are Perfectly Pretty Women Getting Hooked” by Sally Davis, explained how perfect women are getting changes done to their bodies when it's not needed. She describes how people today are obsessed with their flaws and what people think about them just to fit in. She also said that the main reason people felt the need to change themselves was because of the use of technology and the idea of looking like a model and celebrity.

After taking a glimpse of what “Finding My Eye-Dentity”, More and More Young Women Choose Surgical ‘Perfection’”, and “Before Spring Break the Anorexic Challenge” were about, you can see that we are slowly wiping out our naturally beautiful females and males. Parents, girls/boys, lovers, and friends are very influential in our lives. However, how much can we let someone else control the way we look? Beautiful is different and comes in different shape, color, and size. If we continue to place models and actresses/actors on a pedestal, then nothing will change. Women and men will continue to ‘perfect’ their body. Beautiful. Everyone wants to look beautiful,

Plastic surgery is one of the most controversial topic today. But the real question is, what is the reason? Beauty is one of the main things America celebrates, and reality tv is slaving our minds into believing if you’re not pretty, you will not make it big, whether in the television industry or not. A study published by APF found that attractive real estate agents were able to sell homes at a higher price than marketers that were not attractive. Other companies have explored the matter, and they have found beautiful people tend to make money and get promotions more often. Jobs like modeling have destroyed most people’s self-confidence. When people began to complain about people being more beautiful than others, we came up with a solution:

Beauty standards are portrayed everywhere: on magazines, social media, ads, commercials, and even flaunted among peers. While the ideals are supposed to promote health awareness, fitness motivation, and self love, it unfortunately results in many unfavorable consequences. Women are constantly “penalized for not being beautiful and at the same time are stigmatized, even pathologized, for not feeling beautiful, for having low self-esteem, for engaging in behaviors like dieting and excessive exercising, or for having eating disorders” (Johnston and Taylor 954). Beauty standards are unrealistic and unhealthy to pursue, and misinforms the public on what true beauty is. While not all beauty image ideals promote negative feelings and dissatisfaction, many believe that the negative effects far outweighs any positive effects.

As you’re walking down a street you may notice a young group of girls or women walking and they see a huge billboard of a beautiful model. They might stop and stare at her and then discuss about her perfect her body is. Not knowing in the next five minutes they’ll be comparing their bodies to the model and feeling bad about themselves wishing that they had her body. Not to mention, that the photo may be photoshopped to make it seem as her body is perfect, or she had plastic surgery to fit the idea of having the perfect body. The fact that the media thinks they’re encouraging young girls and women to embrace their beauty, they’re influencing them that they have to have a perfect body in order to get attention. The media has put a lot of pressure on young girls and women to look perfect and second guess their bodies, when plastic surgery is never the answer to build their self-esteem up.

In a society so consumed by the ideology of beauty, it makes sense as to why so many women these days undergo cosmetic surgery. The definition of beauty has long been obstructed and changed. In the past, if you look at the woman, you will see they are curvy, during this era being thin meant you were poor where as a beautiful and wealthy woman would be plump because she could afford fine dining. As society has changed, being slender has become the new trend, creating the idea that in order to be truly beautiful one must be thin. The movie stars in Hollywood, although most people realize the beautifying changes that are made to the pictures, this idea of 'beauty ' and 'desire ' still lingers in the mind of whoever comes across it. Our society is bombarded with several different ideologies of beauty but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The beauty standards that have been set should not be what are shaping people around the world and influencing them to go through with plastic surgery. The use of plastic surgery has changed from a medical procedure used to reconstruct the wounded or people with birth defects to reconstructing something people do not like about themselves. Plastic surgery was used during WWI in 1910 and after the war, skin grafting grew. The first training program in the United States was in 1924 thanks to Dr. John Davis. In 1950-1959, plastic surgery was used broadly to repair cleft pallet. It wasn’t until about

Society creates a standard of beauty for women that often changes along with society due to a new perspective on what it means to be beautiful in our culture. These standards for beauty create what our society believes makes a woman desirable, attractive, perfect, and overall beautiful.  Which then enforces unhealthy and unrealistic beauty ideals that negatively affect women's self-image and their body image because society has attributed beauty to self worth. The result is with the ever changing standards of beauty means women use various ways to alter their bodies and appearance by clothing, makeup, hair, dieting, exercising, and even taking extreme measures to perfect their looks through surgery.

There are many beauty standards but weight and body size is slowly becoming the main focus. These standards give a false sense of hope of having the “perfect body.” Instead of letting beauty standards be socially accepted, people should be aware of the harm they cause. Celebrities are role models to various people around the world and they are criticized for their appearance. Many of these celebrities go out and get plastic surgery, Botox injections, and Silicone implants. People that a lot of money and higher status are more likely to be able to live up to these standards. Some women are willing to sacrifice comfort and tolerate the pain to achieve them.

Plastic Surgery has become a worldwide epidemic in today’s world. The number of plastic surgeries continues to increase since 2010. In today’s day and age, plastic surgery is one of the most popular and requested procedures. Females are opting to have plastic surgery because they dislike their body image. Society has impacted many people by brain washing them to believe that a person’s body has to be perfect. In order for one to be considered beautiful, television and media influence people’s perceptions of beauty.

If one is considering cosmetic surgery I suggest reconsidering. Research shows cosmetic surgery can be a risky and costly procedure. Society is pressuring people to look more attractive. Media shows actors to be flawless and the public feels that one should be compared to these actors. Cosmetic surgery is becoming more popular is today’s culture. People are turning to cosmetic surgery for many reasons, some of them are not healthy.

We live in a society where people worship beauty. As far as recorded history people have gone to extremes to seek beauty. From foot binding in China to wearing strangulating corsets in Victorian era. People from different race and culture have experimented in every way possible way to look beautiful prior to this popular age of plastic surgery. It’s very common to hear people complain about their appearance, whether it’s their crocked nose, thin lips or flat chest. Remarkably, plastic surgery has been the solution for people who complain. Most people tend to think of plastic surgery as only cosmetic surgery and not as reconstructive surgeries. Plastic surgeries seems to be an invention of modern technology; however its roots lie in the ancient history of India. An Indian surgeon contributed towards the establishment of plastic surgery, it was intended to correct physical deformities acquired during birth, accident, disease or war. These surgeries did not gain the popularity it has today until the First World War. It was during the late 60’s, when doctors started realizing the endless possibilities of plastic surgeries. With the help of this surgery a trained surgeon can replace an amputate body part, remove skin cancer, get rid of unattractive scars and visible birthmarks or rescaling a nose or enhance body parts. Today more and more people from different age groups opt for plastic surgeries to obtain dramatic physical changes. These surgeries were envisioned to restore

We see girls in the media who have perfect lives, go to the gym religiously, are always weirdly flawless with a full face of makeup, and we can't help but think to ourselves: “Why can't I be like that?” or, “I wish I was her.” Because we see these women who are beautiful, get all the guys, seem to have their lives figured out, we feel this pressure to look and be like them, and when we don't look like them we tear ourselves down and point out all of our flaws. I have fallen victim to this many times, it’s a vicious cycle that’s hard to stop. I have noticed that Instagram models all have been working for a certain body type and face image that make them all blend in. They all have beautiful full lips, small chiseled faces, small waists, wide hips, and enormous posteriors. Most of the time, for celebrities, these things are achieved by plastic surgeons, which is why it's such a dangerous body type to idolize as a young girl. No matter where I go or what I watch, women with these body types are everywhere. They are sung about, rapped about, and praised everywhere for their body, and it makes me think: Maybe if I looked

“Don’t like the way you look? Ready for a quick and easy change? We can help you with one simple cosmetic surgery.” We have all heard or seen advertisements like this on television or in magazines, but why is cosmetic surgery so appealing to people, especially women? Cosmetic surgery is used all over the world to enhance one’s features and make people “happy,” but is it worth it? Is it beauty or is it a beast having cosmetic surgery done? There are many options and things to consider when thinking about getting any kind of surgery. Body image is a huge aspect especially when there is a demand for beauty by society. The cost of cosmetic surgery and the dangers are also something to take into consideration, but there are many positives in getting this type of surgery.