The original wording of this post I remember was pretty bad but I have to admit I don’t think plastic surgery would be anywhere near as popular outside of a medical context were it not for the very outrageous beauty standards that exist in the world today which compels women to conform more and more just to be seen as valid, real, worthy. It is anyone’s choice in this society to do what they want with their bodies of course (though I do think it is another discussion altogether how much agency can actually be claimed when forces of coercion are so strong as modern-day standards of beauty) but I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t think it’s even a little bit tragic what people are compelled to do to themselves in pursuit of this. I don’t believe it is a liberatory or empowering thing most of the time at all. frogman could have said it like that, I think a more charitable reading like that could have been got out of it, but that’s not what was said, yeah.
Definitely another avenue to critique it. After all, beauty is always constructed socially and the pressure of unattainable norms can drive all sorts of tragic behavior. I had things like eating disorders in mind (so trying to look like someone who did plastic surgery but doesn't say as much), but the pressure to conform can lead to other tragic outcomes as well.
To be clear: nothing ontologically wrong with plastic surgery - go get giant boobs or lipo or Botox. We should affirm people's desire to shape their body as they wish. But the motive can be either empowering or tragic and that's like, I think, where the capitalist hellscape and advertising/culture can rear their head in a real way.
Agreed. I was mostly just posting I guess a preemptive selfcrit here because I was one of the upbears 😓 I want to say I had that more charitable reading of an otherwise offensive sentiment in mind when doing so but it’s just as likely I was projecting my own perspective i described above on garden variety chauvinism I was too sloppy to recognize and I don’t want to give the illusion that I support that. I feel a bit silly for it but I will own that
The original wording of this post I remember was pretty bad but I have to admit I don’t think plastic surgery would be anywhere near as popular outside of a medical context were it not for the very outrageous beauty standards that exist in the world today which compels women to conform more and more just to be seen as valid, real, worthy. It is anyone’s choice in this society to do what they want with their bodies of course (though I do think it is another discussion altogether how much agency can actually be claimed when forces of coercion are so strong as modern-day standards of beauty) but I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t think it’s even a little bit tragic what people are compelled to do to themselves in pursuit of this. I don’t believe it is a liberatory or empowering thing most of the time at all. frogman could have said it like that, I think a more charitable reading like that could have been got out of it, but that’s not what was said, yeah.
Definitely another avenue to critique it. After all, beauty is always constructed socially and the pressure of unattainable norms can drive all sorts of tragic behavior. I had things like eating disorders in mind (so trying to look like someone who did plastic surgery but doesn't say as much), but the pressure to conform can lead to other tragic outcomes as well.
To be clear: nothing ontologically wrong with plastic surgery - go get giant boobs or lipo or Botox. We should affirm people's desire to shape their body as they wish. But the motive can be either empowering or tragic and that's like, I think, where the capitalist hellscape and advertising/culture can rear their head in a real way.
Agreed. I was mostly just posting I guess a preemptive selfcrit here because I was one of the upbears 😓 I want to say I had that more charitable reading of an otherwise offensive sentiment in mind when doing so but it’s just as likely I was projecting my own perspective i described above on garden variety chauvinism I was too sloppy to recognize and I don’t want to give the illusion that I support that. I feel a bit silly for it but I will own that