The pressure to get plastic surgery

[Ryotknife]

I knew a woman who had a nosejob. In her case, I can kinda see where she was coming from. Now, she was a pretty gal before the operation, she just had a big nose. When I say big nose, I mean this nose would be big even on a 6'6 guy, and she was barely 5'. It was actually her father who pressured her into getting it because he felt guilty for "giving her bad genetics."

I will say that on average men are probably not as harsh about their ideal women's weight as women think men are. In my opinion only here, being too skinny is more of a turn off than being a little overweight.

 

[Bocaj2000]

Both have cultural obligations, but they are nowhere near equal.

I choose option 4:

Both men and women put pressure on each other due to the culture that they live in. Men are told to be "masculine" and women are told to be "feminine." Masculinity is generally being a rugged individual, while being feminine is generally being dainty and dependent. In this culture, we are told that these qualities are desirable, therefore they are.

Boys tend to get raised with the intention of him being tough, so there's pressure on them to be athletic- intellect is secondary; this is easy to accomplish. Women are brought up with the intention of them being virginal for as long ass possible, yet still being sexually desirable; this is completely different. Women have to uphold this contradiction until marriage, in which case they are expected to uphold the persona of their husbands- whom are rugged individuals. Because of the cultural implications that women are primarily sexual objects, their appearance is in the forefront of their minds. Therefore, it is culture's fault that women get plastic surgery.

 

[GTwander]

Answer: 95% of the time, women do from poor self-image. You have no idea how many small-breasted chicks get implants against the advice of ALL men around them. They are pretty much dead-set on it since high school, when all their friends got awesome knockers and they simply couldn't be happy with their own.

The other 5% of the time is some rich tard turning his already trophy wife into a silicone fuckdoll.

Women are horrible. The worst creatures every created... *snippety*

I think you are the most awesome chick on the internet for having said all that.
We should hang out sometime.

 

[IndomitableSam]

Answer: 95% of the time, women do from poor self-image. You have no idea how many small-breasted chicks get implants against the advice of ALL men around them. They are pretty much dead-set on it since high school, when all their friends got awesome knockers and they simply couldn't be happy with their own.

The other 5% of the time is some rich tard turning his already trophy wife into a silicone fuckdoll.

Women are horrible. The worst creatures every created... *snippety*

I think you are the most awesome chick on the internet for having said all that.
We should hang out sometime.

Seriously, I hate women. Which is weird and petty, because I still see them all as competition, too. Cometition for what, I have no idea, because I'm quite happy with my life... but they're still people I'm programmed to hate until they become friends and are then 'on my side'...

Ah, conditioning.

 

[SciMal]

After a while, we all agreed that most of the pressure comes from society pressuring individuals.

Society creates the ideal image of beauty, however it's rarely direct societal pressure that causes individuals to seek plastic surgery. While it is, definitely, driven by the urge to look closer to the ideal - there are plenty of people who have an unhealthy fascination with attaining their 'ideal' and won't settle for less even if everyone in their social circle consider them above average or better. It's a pretty well known psychological disorder, and is one reason why major plastic surgeries (and gender re-assignment) involves very hefty psychological tests.

1. Men create the most pressure because of their unrealistic expectations on what the perfect woman looks like and pressure women to look perfect.
2. Women create the most pressure because of their unrealistic expectations on what the perfect woman looks like and pressure themselves and others to look perfect.
3. Men and women pressure themselves because of their unrealistic expectations on what perfection looks like based on people they idolize, the pressure from society is more or less equal.

There were a few other opinions, but they more or less got assimilated into one of these three.
At first, I thought 1 was true, but one person made the point (this person is a girl, which is slightly relevant) that women are meaner and more critical of each other than guys are. Considering some of the girls I have known in my life, I'd have to agree, but even still, its hard to say which gender contributes to the "GET PLASTIC SURGERY" pressure most.

What do you think? Do you think men create the most pressure to get plastic surgery, or women?

I don't think it comes from one or two sources. I think the desire to get plastic surgery arise for various reasons. Women often get breast implants and tummy-tucks to appeal to male aesthetics, true. Women may also remove moles, hair, and have face-lifts because they need to satisfy themselves - which may or may not stem from competing with other women. Men get hair implants to appeal to satisfy themselves and appeal to women, mostly, and any penile plastic surgery is definitely for themselves.

Actresses get it because in the cutthroat world of movies, your roles are completely dictated by how you look.

I've had laser-eye surgery and have had a few moles removed myself, not what I'd call 'plastic surgery', but they were definitely for the benefit of my self-image more than the hassle of dealing with glasses and the possibility of melanoma.

Another problem is that there's a stigma attached to plastic surgery in society (at least American society). Somehow nobody minds that women constantly shave, pluck hairs, wax, put on makeup, use push-up bras, bump-its for hairstyles, and a thousand other things - but getting a few moles removed or upping your cup size is ridiculous.

As long as the procedure is safe and the person is pscyhologically capable of handling the change, I don't see why there should be a stigma. If makeup is false advertising, plastic surgery is just a more costly form of false advertising.

That's my two cents.

 

[Moth_Monk]

1. It's not only women that get plastic surgery
2. Some people do freely choose to have plastic surgery, without pressure from others
3. Plastic surgery can be a good thing
4. Deal with it and watch less TV and read fewer newspapers

 

[Tsaba]

I think this pretty much sums up the topic
Moral of the story women feel they need to get something because they feel that they need to attain this unattainable standard that everyone apparently needs to live up to.

EDIT: I'm not going to argue that if the elephant man wanted surgery we should just tell him to stop being shallow. If it's that extreme, then sure, go for it, I'm happy for you.

2nd EDIT: IndomitableSam hit it on the nail.

 

[Dastardly]

Art imitates life imitates art...

Seriously, a great deal of our view of what is "ideal" comes from the stories we entertain ourselves with throughout our lives. That's how values have nearly always been transmitted from one generation to the next -- via fables, etc.

Hero stories tell you what qualities are heroic. Tragedies tell you what qualities are undesirable. We're programmed to absorb information from this shared social consciousness... and at some point in the recent past, advertisers seized control of that consciousness.

We watch a show in which Woman X is held as the epitome of sexuality. We see ads in which Woman X appears strong, confident, in control. We learn to associate the traits of Woman X with desirability... but, you see, ads and shows mostly convey the visual traits.

(See, as human beings, we're also programmed to look for shortcuts. If someone seems awesome, we're apt to assume they are barring mountains of evidence to the contrary.)

Men slowly start to think, "Well, I guess that's what I should shoot for then, right?" Women start to think, "Well, I guess that's what I should shoot for then, right?"

And then the next generation further analyzes Woman X's characteristics, and further distills that list down. If thin is good, thinner must be better. If boobs are good, bigger boobs must be better. Rather than consider the whole, we consider the parts -- Angelina Jolie, for better or worse, is a beautiful woman who happens to have big lips... which therefore must mean big lips are sexy, right?

Video games follow the same trend, if you think about it. Someone finds a mechanic that works, and the next year of games all abuse that mechanic ad nauseum -- because if X is good, X^10 must be super good!

Speeding up the process? We tend to paint the opposite traits as not just "meh," but ohmygodburnthem! How many antagonists in kids' movies are fat and old? Most of them! Heck, we even add deformities, because fuck the handicapped! In doing so, we plant the seeds of a value, which is then watered and fed by the consistent barrage of media, and grows into a mighty oak of absolute certainty.

Neither side (male or female) is entirely at fault. It's our nature, and the media has spent billions of dollars learning how to best manipulate our nature. The best solution remains as it always has: Turn the TV off.

 

[Vault101]

I think women put a lot of pressure on themselves. I also think that it often ends in disaster.

I think its also society..kind of like a vicous circle type thing

if theres one kind of plastic durgery I have a serious problem with its Labia plasty....as in never hte mind the rest of your body...your genitls are no longer good enough!

 

[Vault101]

Seriously, I hate women. Which is weird and petty, because I still see them all as competition, too. Cometition for what, I have no idea, because I'm quite happy with my life... but they're still people I'm programmed to hate until they become friends and are then 'on my side'...

Ah, conditioning.

I hate this

I hate this Idea that women have to hate each other..while men get to have "bros" does this mean we all have to remain freindless? its BS

I don;t think its quite as bad, I did go to an all girl school and while full of BS you foudn your niche and you were fine....if anything its society that conditions them to be evil little bitches (but as I sadi its not THAT bad, this is a very large sample of people we are tlking about)

I think you are the most awesome chick on the internet for having said all that.
We should hang out sometime.

I dont think it needs encouraging

 

[aba1]

I hate when people blame things on society. To me it just feels like a excuse for letting peer pressure dictate your life. Don't blame society get a backbone and stop caring about what people think.

 

[Palademon]

I find "pressure to get plastic surgery" to be a weird idea.
I can understand that it may seem like a solution sometimes to criticism about your body either brought up by somebody or due to low self-esteem, but is that really what people think of first? It's not like I've ever heard of people saying "Hey, you should pay money to look better!" - y'know - more drastically than clothing and make up ads.


The theories about blaming a specific gender seem stupid to me. In my college there were several posters about equal rights for women bringing up less pay and how they're pressured to look better. And while my general sentiment was "That sucks...", at the end of each one they were like "Who's fault is...?".
"Who's fault is it that women feel like starving themselves?" This is a stupidly biased question, becuse since they identify "women" as a single entity already included in the question WHO else could they possibly blame. Yep, it's all us men's fault, and I should feel ashamed to have been born with a penis because it means I oppress women. If I was seriouly asked by my teacher's supposedly for equal rights who's fault it was I'd respond "Fashion magazines, who I imagine are run by some woman".


We also had a day about "recognising important females in history" which I thought was equally stupid. If we have to get rid of an entire gender just to think of important people for another, that doesn't mean we under-appreciate women, college, it means women don't tend to be interested in changing the world, deal with it. Sure, there are important women, but most important ones we don'thave to spend 20 minutes thinking of nothing but women to come up with one.

 

[lunavixen]

Name me a woman over the age of 10 who hasn't once called themselves or someone else, or been called ugly because they (or the accuser) felt threatened/debased, and I'll call you a liar*. We have evolved and it's in our genes to try and be the best looking - many species have one gender where it's their job to look good when it's time to mate, not to prove how strong or resourceful they are.

i've been on the recieving end of the name calling from others, why i don't know. I don't consider myself ugly. Hell, it's the face i was born with and it's the one i'm going to die with, no purely cosmetic procedures for me. I suppose after being bullied for years on end you just stop caring about whether you're ugly or not(well, i did).

OP: Your theories are both wrong and right, there is a lot of pressure from people (women more so than men) but a lot of the pressure to "look perfect" comes from the media and society as a whole, moreso than pressure from an individual