Breast implants and liposuction are now bestowed by parents as graduation or birthday gifts. Some doctors say they have performed breast augmentations on baby-boomer mothers and their teenage daughters.
I understand that girls have a lot more self esteem issues than boys do. I am having this situation with my oldest daughter right now. She complains that "no boy will ever like me, they all want barbie dolls."
Psychologist Ann Kearney-Cooke, a visiting scholar at Columbia University who studies girls and body image, said the increase in cosmetic surgery among adolescents reflects a pernicious trend that pervades popular culture: the glorification of rail-thin, large-breasted women. It is, she notes, an unnatural body type rarely achievable without surgery.
"Kids spend a lot of time in chat rooms and they're bombarded by the media with these unrealistic images," Kearney-Cooke said. "When you're a teenage girl, there's this whole myth of transformation that's very powerful: namely that cosmetic surgery can transform your looks and your life.
Sometimes kids, which a teenager still is, don't realize the commitment they are making with such procedures and the risks they are taking. The Barbie doll image is just too important.
Although many women continue to believe their implants made them sick, no scientific link has been conclusively established with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, according to the FDA.
But the agency warns in a 2004 handbook for patients that "most women with breast implants will experience local complications" including pain, hardening and rupture. Recipients "should be prepared for long-term follow up, reoperations to treat complications and personal financial costs." Less common complications include numbness, infection and blood clots.
I wish I knew what the answer was for our culture. Plastic surgery might put a little icing on the cake but it doesn't change fundamentally who you are. It's more than just the girls too. I have been focusing on them in this disscussion but the boys need to learn that the perfect "barbie doll" is just an illusion. The fabricated eye candy they see paraded across screens, TV and movie, are not what real life is all about. There is an underlying beauty under the skin that is much more important than the eye candy and that is what should be important. But our visual society just doesn't see it, how sad.
Those real pretty women are just high maintanence and since I am no great shakes in the looks department myself, it isn't that important to me. Pat (My Hired Man)
here. I agree with you - it is sickening to see what values are out there today. Has
every generation had its weirdness like this, or have things just intensified these
days. Fake is in. Meanness is in. Watching peoples' misery is in.
On another note: See if you can find something in the way of autobiography of Dolly
Parton for your daughter. I read hers are natural, and she developed early into the
Barbie doll figure. Boys liked her plenty, but they liked her for a reason she didn't
want to be liked for. And of course, all the girls hated her.
An interesting side of things - I'm really thin (as evidenced from pictures), but it's not as glam as everyone thinks it is. From middle to highschool I was accused of being anorexic, bulimic, that sort of thing. Alot of people called me an 'ironing board', and I was hated by the girls who wanted my body. I don't have the perfect body, no matter who says I do. When I was in highschool, I was 5'6" and 102-104 pounds (108 when I left for Wyoming at age 18). I was sick all the time, with the flu, ear infections, and whatever was going around. I had to wear orchestra gowns that were too big beacuse they couldn't find one small enough for me. I sat front row in the orchestra, and everyone saw me in my ill fitting gown and would snicker. I couldn't find a 'decent' prom dress. My self esteem was shot to hell because of how I looked, despite having a 'perfect' body. Since I left highschool, I've gained only 12 pounds (thanks to the high metabolism that I have), but the change has been a complete 180. I'm not as sick, I fight off colds faster then I did when I was in highschool. I have a good self esteem, and there are a lot of guys who find me attractive (besides Cal, tee hee). When I tell them how much I weighed or show them pictures of me in highschool, they say that as skinny as I was is too skinny.
Not to mention there are ALWAYS guys who like smaller chests. My chest still can cause me issues, but I'm cool with it and it's cool with me. I don't need to have larger boobies cause I know that not every guy likes large chests. And that's cool. Not to mention I'm more then just a chest, and if some guy thinks that then he's not worth my time.
I don't know what more I can say, I wish I could help out your daughter. I felt how she did when I was in highschool - I was convinced that guys didn't like me because I had small boobs. If there's anything more I can do, let me know and I'll get on it.
When I think of Kim I always want to paraphrase a line from classic literature, "she's juuust right." ducks under the flying chemistry book
And Randy, you best watch out at the next MBB.
it is seriously affecting a person's self-image. At one point,
I was a photographer and took before and after photos for
plastic surgery docs. Some of these poor folks had breasts,
noses, ears, etc. that were deformed or were close
to it. A "girl" who has A breasts or B breasts and wants C
or D breasts should certainly not be receiving them from the
folks as a 16th birthday gift though. Unfortunately, it's
very difficult in this culture to convince women that it's
only our "insides" that matter 'cause that sure as hell isn't
the message we receive every-single-day.
What upsets me the most are the comments from the women. Just how does a girl who develops early and bigger than average control her genetics anymore than the skinny, flat girl? How does having bigger breasts make anyone a loser? To tell the truth, it sometimes does because those little girls become prey for predators who only see the breasts and forget that they are on children. Many little girls are abused, often by the men in their own families. Very sad. And criminal but often not even reported.
I agree that the surgery for children or teens is plain BS but I do think that it is important to value each girl regardless of her physical characteristics. I think one of the best ways girls learn "self esteem" is by the way the men in their lives treat their mothers and grandmothers. So be good to your daughters, Sam. In their presence treat your darling wife just the way you want all males to treat your daughters. Then they will know that they should be respected, valued, etc. and they will demand it from the rest of the world