[In
a commercial tone] Are you happy with yourself? Are you
content with your appearance? What’s the matter? Does your flat nose bother
you? No problem! With couple shots of calcium hydroxiapatite or simple
injection of bioplastic, your nose will become as prominent as that of Dustin
Hoffman. Oh, you say you don’t like the fats around your waist? Easy. Try the
new diet technique Lipsosuction, a type of cosmetic surgery which breaks up and
literally sucks fat from your desired part of body. What? You don’t like being
a man? Hm. [Briefly ponder in silence]
No worries! Through sex change operation, you can be the most beautiful
she-male among your friends and colleagues. Yikes, you say you don’t like
anything about yourself? Just bring it on! Through any means of modern surgical
technique, you will be recreated. Welcome to 21st century cosmetic
surgery industry.
[Back
to my normal voice] What is your response to this quite
exaggerated and sarcastic imitation I just presented? Is it disgust? Humor? Or
perhaps and most likely, indifference? Regardless of what types of responses
you have got, I believe that we, hopefully, get the sense of cosmetic surgery’s
growing popularity and appeal to many people in current society. In fact,
throughout last ten years, cosmetic surgery industry increased by 700 percent
with staggering twelve million operations conducted. There is an increasing
belief that looks matter in success in modern society—that beautiful people
gain more social recognition, make more money, and have more opportunities in
anything. Given the belief, it is quite understandable that cosmetic surgery is
popularly used as a method for career improvement or for any future social
success. However, we need to acknowledge that the modern society’s aesthetic
concerns are missing out a key word, realism. By this I do not mean to point
out plastic surgeons’ failure to create realistic and natural looks for their
patients. I mean to indicate people’s false belief that somehow seeking
cosmetic surgery to alter some aspects of their body will change and improve
their genuine human values. Although people can be happily content with their
aesthetic advancement, the question, which I initially asked, still remains:
Are you happy with yourself? Are you really “you”? Today, I would like to reveal
and analyze the modern society’s increasing concern about aesthetics and the
plastic surgery’s fostering misguided human values.
The history of
plastic surgery traces as far back to 800 B.C when the first “plastic surgery”,
perhaps this is an anachronistic term to use for then, was conducted in India.
However, not until the early nineteenth century did plastic surgery start to
gain growing popularity. War played a huge role in the history of plastic
surgery. World War I and II presented doctors with immense number of serious
facial wounds and burns as modern weapons went through significant improvement
in their destructiveness. Many doctors devoted themselves to create new
techniques to heal those wounded from the war. As surgeons met with the
increasing demands and showed many notable successes in operations, people not
only became aware of the modern medical development, but also fully realized
the influence of appearances on their lives. After a few decades, restorative
plastic surgery began to lose its popularity and the modern, and more
well-known, cosmetic surgery started to rise. Plastic surgery, once developed
for restorative purpose, seems to have digressed to meet capitalistic search
for profits and most importantly, to serve as a method of recreation.
According to the
online survey website “Do-It Survey”, approximately 44 percent of adults have
once considered the cosmetic surgery and 11.1 percent of those have received
the surgery. Also, 80 percent of those who have experiences of cosmetic surgery
responded that through fixing body image dissatisfaction, they can attain more
self-confidence and self-esteem. As it is surveyed that body image
dissatisfaction is often related with decreased psychological well-being, it is
also clear that people’s concern on their beauty stems from their
self-consciousness. Since consciousness is closely associated with the
awareness of the surroundings, the logic convinces that the popularity of cosmetic
surgery is not just an issue of personal discontent. It is in fact a social
phenomenon. Antonio Armani, a Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeon specialized in
hair transplants, said this: “In the corporate world, there’s a lot of emphasis
on image, and image goes with self-confidence”. In truth, modern society’s
emphasis on image and its expectations are causing people’s increasing
self-consciousness about their appearances and thus intensifying their aesthetic
discontent. Simply, the issue is not intrapersonal, but interpersonal.
In the book Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever
Imagined, Gordon Patzer, a longtime researcher on the impact of physical
attractiveness, criticizes society’s discriminatory tendencies based on people’s
aesthetic value. He says, “Almost all of us, if we would admit it, and it may
not be conscious, we do make pretty quick impressions of people”, noting that
beautiful people tend to have tremendous and universal appeal to everyone.
Though we may not be aware, as Patzer says, there are innumerable
discriminatory judgments we make in our lives. Women with thinner waistline and
bigger breasts tend to be more likable. Men who are handsome and tall are also
favored over those who are not. Cuter newborns are touched, held, and talked to
more than those less attractive. School teachers may unknowingly favor and hold
higher expectations for better-looking children. Parents may be disappointed
and less protective of their dysfunctional children. Such overlooked
discriminatory behaviors that we as a society enforce indicate that we are
responsible for this potentially destructive phenomenon.
Instead of leaving you void of
solutions, just like how all writers, such as Dawkins, Greene, and so on, like
to do, I will suggest the idea that can an enlightening torch out through this
difficult social problem. The amendment should simply begin with an acceptance
that we are not perfect. Let us remind ourselves with humility that we are full
of flaws and so are others. Although the advanced medical technology of our
time might cover our physical flaws perfectly, it cannot genuinely recreate us
or even restore us with any redeeming value. Our essence is inviolable with
scalpel. Gandhi once preached people to be the change they wish to see in the
world. We can be the revolutionary force to transform the phenomenon. Perhaps
we can prove that unattractive person can take a leading role in Hollywood or
be a model. Perhaps we can date ugly people or be ugly dates (Beauty or beast).
The true joy as a human is not accomplished through changing our appearances,
but through changing others’ minds and our own.
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