Monday, November 1, 2010

Under the knife

I've commented on this before, but I really have to wonder why on earth women (and indeed, people in general, my own sex are just the serial offenders) have such difficulty in accepting what their DNA made them.

This particular gripe is specifically female, however, because today I'm here to talk about breast implants.

As much as it embarrasses me to have to say so, I am well aware I don't know how someone who feels they need breast augmentation feels. To put it delicately, it's not a feeling I have ever had or likely ever will have, barring something like cancer. However, what I do get is people wanting what they haven't got.

What set me off about this was hearing about Charlotte Dawson. (she's the slightly bitchy judge with the slightly frozen face on Australia's Next Top Model. Technically, Alex Perry also fits that description, but he's male, and besides, he's very bitchy. :P) Getting back on topic, Charlotte has breast implants to go with the Botoxed face. Old breast implants, which began rupturing because of their age. Now, we won't go into why on earth one would allow cameras (and Simon Reeve!) to be present while having surgery to rectify this, that's a whole other post. I was sitting there thinking, "Oh, good. She'll have them removed." Which she did, but with the express intention of replacing them with newer, smaller versions made out non-leaking materials. As it happens, medical things transpired and she couldn't do that part on the day the cameras were there. I'm not sure whether she's since had the new ones put in or not. Regardless, the fact that she had them in the first place is what bothers me. That anyone has them bothers me.

Now, I'm not disputing the right of women and men to have surgery done for purely vain reasons, but I am disputing that vanity, that belief that we as were made to be is not enough. Coming from the opposite perspective, there are definite downsides to having larger breasts, especially for those poor people who end up with back trouble. They at least have a medical reason to have things done to their boobs.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that no woman under normal circumstances needs breast implants. I'd like to live in a world when the only people who have it done are mastectomy patients who understandably want one of the chief signals of their womanhood restored after a terrible ordeal.

This growing propensity for women to become bubble chests is more than little disturbing. I mean, who is it for? Men? One could point out that if a man doesn't love you as you are, small breasts and all, then he doesn't actually love you. Though it may attract more of a certain kind of men, these are not the ones liable to stay. For self-esteem? To feel more womanly? Well, that is something I can understand, but what on earth is womanly about having yourself knocked out and your chest filled with saline or silicone? What is feminine about having serious difficulty with, or not being able to, breastfeed if you have children, simply because you don't feel like a woman when you look in the mirror?

Fun fact, ladies - you're still a woman, regardless of the size of your breasts. The appearance of the thing is not the thing itself. (I think I borrowed that line from somewhere...) But we live in times when it is the appearance that matters, or at least that's how it seems. It is easier for some to put themselves through needless physical pain and scarring simply to get the body they think is better, and in doing so, avoid the necessary self-awareness to be comfortable in your own skin and self.

I've said this before, but women in general, please just learn to look yourselves in the eye and be happy with who you are, and what shape your body is designed to be. There's nothing wrong with you, or with any of us, and the sooner we all realise that, the sooner things like breast implants can become a rare occurrence instead of a disturbingly common one.

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