Plastic Surgery and Womens Beauty - Essay Example

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PLASTIC SURGERY AND OUR CONTEMPORARY NOTIONS OF WHAT MAKES WOMEN BEAUTIFUL Introduction The evolving technology has come with various medical procedures. Plastic surgery is one of the medical procedures that have gained recent recognition and a wide use for all people. It is medical specialty which uses surgical and non surgical technologies in order to change its appearance of the body. The medical technique uses both cosmetic enhancements in combination with constructive reconstruction in order to change the appearance of the body. Therefore it uses simple medical surgery procedure used to enhance beauty of the body. The fact that it is meant to enhance the beauty of a person has made it more appealing in the modern world when beauty has become a concern for m any people and especially women. The technique mold, reshape and reconstruct body tissues in order to bring the desired shape. (Ham, 2003) Although it has gained recognized use in the recent time, plastic surgery dates back to many years ago. As early as 1st BC the Romans are recorded to have been performing simple body procedures which were aimed at enhancing the beauty. They were mostly done on women. However with the coming modernization, plastic surgery has gained an increased use especially for aesthetic purpose. In the process there is use of skin tissue which is also known as skin grafting as one of the common procedure. In this cse it has been used for medial reconstruction purposes for patients who have experienced burns or other traumas. However, grafting of skin has also been used for aesthetic purposes. This reconstructive surgery plays a central role in the medical procedures for burns and traumatic injuries, or in remove of cancer or tumors. It also usually performed in order to improve the function and also to approximate the normal appearance of the organs. Reconstructive surgery has been successfully used by women in breast reconstruction in case they have mastectomy, in children or adults with cleft lip or palate lip, and in other contracture functions. (Adams, 1999) Unlike plastic surgery that is used for medical purposes, cosmetic surgery is used purpose for the enhancement of the appearance. It also uses medical procedure and medical techniques. Cosmetic surgery deals with the normal appearance and is usually carried out after plastic surgery in order to restore or to enhance the normal appearance of the person. It has gained worldwide use in the recent past as the world has been moving towards the enhancement of beauty. For example it is estimated that 11 million cosmetic surgeries were recorded to have been performed in the USA in 2006 alone. (Paolo, 2007) Plastic surgery and beauty The definition of the modern women takes into consideration many aspect but one of that h as to be beauty. Unlike in the past when women were defined by quality in many ways, this perception has changed and the body appeal of a woman has been increasingly used to define the modern woman. The beauty industry is definitely one of the rapidly growing industries in the world not only in the developed world but also in the developing world. Modern women are known to of to any extent in order to enhance their beauty. They will spend most of their time enhancing their look by using various make ups and other beauty apparatus. The modern technology has changed the social construction of a woman and has led to increased use of beauty enhancers. The standard of judging the beauty of a woman has been pegged not only on the make up that are used but also on the facial appearance. Therefore there has been increase use of plastic surgery in order toe enhance beauty. (Hainken, 1997) Beauty is not a construction of the modern society but it has been valued for along time in the world. During the time of Greek evolution, beauty was also valued and recommended for women. This has followed the history of the human kind and it can be traced to the cradle of human civilization. Aristotle once said that beauty has strong effect than a letter of recommendation. This shows that beauty was valued even before the modernization process took over the world. But there has been changing methods of achieving this beauty. While tradition it was confined to the use of costly garment and good smelling perfumes, this has changed with time and has been confined to the body appearance of a woman. This can be taken has resulted from the social construction of beauty that has been changing with technology. (Blair, 1994) How do people perceive beauty The adage goes that beauty is in the beauty of the beholder. This has tried to construct that beauty lies in what one sees in the other person or in something. What can be considered beautiful to one person may not be beautiful to another person. One of the early philosophers Hume said that beauty cannot be taken as a quality in people but it merely exist in the contemplations and each mind will see something different from another. It is therefore contemplation to the mind. But this appears to be an earlier nation and outlook of beauty. The modern society has come up with new standard of judging people and a woman will feel more comfortable standing in the public when she is sure that they perceive her as beautiful. Though beauty had been preserved for your women alone, aged women have also been growing in the long list. They have also been lining up in the beauty centers. It has been shown that there is a distinct advantage for being attractive. Beauty enhancement is used mainly to make one attractive to others. Good long people have a social advantage as compared to other. There is a great bias for beauty in our society that has led many people to go to nay extent in order to acquire this beauty. The bias for beauty is prevalent in many situations and it is practiced for a number of people. Studies have proved that we tend to react positively to more beautiful people than to other. It we just take an example around neighborhood, we will find that beautiful children are more attractive and more population. In the education sector it has been shown that good looking students are likely to score more as teacher are likely to award them more than other students. (DeNoon, 2003) Perhaps the most encouraging scenario for beauty enhancement is when we go to search for job. Bias for beauty has been experience when looking for jobs. Good looking persons are twice likely to get employed compared to others. This bias however has been shown to be more extend to women than men. It has also been show that attractive men are likely to make 12% to 15% more in ah year compared to unattractive men. Beautiful people have also been taken as stereotypes in the society. For example Democratic president candidate Hillary Clinton is rumored to have spent million of dollar in plastic surgery in order to enhance her candidacy. This is a clear illustrate of how complex the issue of beauty construction of women has become in the society. She was ready to use more money in order to enhance her looks and therefore boost her chance of being elected the president of the US. This construction of the society and the need to have an appeal to the society it an integrated in the social value that the society will attach to that particular individual. If we look down the history, we will find that Helen of Troy was the beauty paragon of her time and her legacy has remained up to date. There is celebration of her physical perfection that was influential in here time and even today. She was known for her beauty in her own way. Mother Theresa also called mother of the poor may not have undergone several surgery but she as famous in her own way and she remains famous up to date. Her beauty was in her charitable work. Princes Diana remains an icon for her beauty and also for the world that she didn't in her time. She may not have used millions of dollars but she remained beautiful in her own ways. While Hillary Clinton has spent millions of dollars in order to enhance her facial appeal, she other women who we have reviewed have made a debut in the social using a different way. But there are some accepted standards of beauty that have been perpetuated by the society from earl times and which are still valued up to date. Beauty is defined in context of symmetry, fitness and fertility. According to Plato the facial appearance of a woman contributes two thirds of the social construction of her beauty. According to Plato a beautiful women's nose won't be longer that the distance between her two eyes. It is for this reason that thousand of women will continue to flock the plastic surgery rooms to take advantage of molding their body shapers and more of their facial appearance. Women will continue to take rhinoplasty in order to shape their nose according to the proposition by Plato. (Kobrin, 2004) The symmetry of modern women has stopped to be gauged on figure 8 and is currently pegged on size zero used by models. Though it come with various health complications, women have shown an increased preference of attaining size zero in order t to enhance their body symmetry size zero does not only come with reduction in fat deposits around the hips and the abdomen but also in reduction of the size of the breast. Breast reduction has increasing being used by women with large breast as they have claimed that they hurt their shoulder and backs. Boys also develop large breasts which are sometime reduced through surgery. There is also correction of breast asymmetry that is achieved through implants. (Becker, 1996) Lipoplasty deals with achieving the desired body size by reducing the fat deposits in the body. Liposuctoin is use to suck the excess body fats that is not required. There are other minor operations that can be done on the body in order to enhance the three The above analysis shows us that the construction by the society and the need to have individual satisfaction of beauty has played a great role in construction of modern women and enhancement of practices of aesthetic enhancement. This has been the base for the development of the modern beauty industry which is rapidly emerging as a dominant sector in the economy. This has been due to the economic and social importance of the industry. Plastic surgery is one of the procedures that have gained increased use in the modern society as a way of enhancing beauty. There are more that 2,000,000 cosmetic procedure that are performed annually in the world. Most of these procedures are not preferred for medical reason but they are performed for aesthetic purpose. (Gryskiiewicz, 2001) Young women have been flooding plastic surgeon center demanding to have nose jobs and liposuction. But the trend has also increase and more aged women have been following their teens to the plastic surgeons demanding to have the same procedure. Most of the women who have been flocking plastic surgery room say that the society h as changed very fast and they have been forced to accept the same standards of the changing society. They have been looking towards enhancing their beauty in order to improve their looks and as a way of building their self esteem. As we said earlier the social construction and the personal need to conform to what the perception of the society have been two things that have been driving the most women to plastic surgery processes. It has involved a hard personal decision to make and a lot of health risk in order to undergo plastic surgery. While more than 30% of women shows that that there is one of tow part of their body which they don't like and which they would prefer to have plastic surgery done, there is still fear of the unknown. Today you may be driven to the plastic surgery room because you hate a part of your body but tomorrow you may need to have your body back. What will you do In making up the decision to be beautiful, it is therefore the preference of the individual while the society may also be contributing to this. It is the way the society has constructed that a beautiful women is the one who meets some criteria that has influenced moist of them to take a step on the market. It has been shown that while most women would prefer to stay with their natural beauty, the construction by the society makes them to undergo plastic surgery in order to keep up with the trend that is taking place in the market. A large percentage of women in the society have shown increased need to undergo plastic surgery. Most of them have expressed the social need to be in line with what is taking place in the society as one of the most important aspect why they have to undergo plastic surgery. While the individual preference has been to increase the facial appearance of the women, they have shown that the body size and symmetry has also become preferential in describing the beauty of women. In a short period of time the number of women who are willing to undergo plastic surgery has more than double. (Asthma, 2005) Most of them are driven by the desire to look beautiful. Feeling beautiful comes with many psychological factors that we cannot underestimate. After undergoing plastic surgery most women have shown an increasing level of self confidence and therefore able to look for love. There are cases of women who had to break their marriage as they assumed that their husband no longer paid attention to them since they were not beautiful. All over the world, women have shown that they would prefer to engage in the plastic surgery and many other have been encourage their partner to undergo the same procedure. This has been shown to be a desire to achieve some level of compatibility. (Jackson, 2001) A study that was carried out involving 200 participate, it was clearly evident that they didn't like the look of their partners. M ore that half of the respondents showed that they would prefer to take their partners for plastic surgery in order to improve their appearance. A large percentage of the respondents showed that they would prefer to become more than 10 years younger. This can only be achieved through plastic surgery and therefore the more the reason why most of them are wiling to under go plastic surgery. (Fraser, 2003) In America more that two third of women have expressed that they are unhappy with their body appearance and would therefore want to undergo plastic surgery. They want to have a tight skin and look young again. Most of the women expressed that they felt down every time they were in company of other women and therefore they would like to undergo plastic surgery as well. Among the Americans women who have been interviewed in several studies it has been shown that almost three quarter of them thing about their size and therefore they would like to change the shape of their body. The social construction of beauty was expressed by one research which showed that most the women chose Madonna as an inspiration woman. Madonna was chosen as an inspirational factor owing to her body size and her beautiful face. Most other studies have shown that good looking people like Brad Pit, David Becham, Mel Gibson and others have been voted as the best men owing to their good body shape and beautiful faces. In the category of women it was show that most of the inspiration women included Catherine Zeta, Jennifer Lopez and others but this beauty and inspiration is attributed to various parts of the body. For example most women get inspiration from Jennifer Lopez from her bottom while a good number gets inspired by Catherine Zeta facial shape. Most of the women who were interviewed also reviewed hat they would enjoy their marriage more and also enjoy sex in case their body shape were improved. This brings us to another construction of the society. For along time beauty has been associated with sexual matters. The trend has been emphasizing on the need to have a good body shape and an attractive face in order to be considered as sexy. The preference for good looking people is therefore highly intertwined with the sexual aspect of the personal. Most of the women who have been undergone plastic surgery have shown that their lives have been greatly improved. More than two thirds of those who have undergone the process show that their lives have gained a new direction by the mere fact that they have gained self confidence and are more acceptable in the society. But there are others who have also undergone suffering period arising from the health complication they have developed after the process. Therefore it becomes difficult for them to accept the positive impact of the process. But a majority of them have shown increased self confidence after undergoing the procedure. The psychological satisfaction of women is the most important thing that has been during women to undergo plastic surgery. There may be social construction of beauty and the acceptance standards that are associated with beauty but most important is the fact that women need to feel like others. This may be reason why women have been the main victim who has been seeking the procedure compared to men. While men are judge not by their look s but by their masculinity and their professional, the social construction from women has been rounded on t heir appearance more than their careers. (Sander, 2005) The social construction to beauty has been expressed in many ways. However the concept has gained worldwide use due to the faced that it has been widely used by the modern construction of a real women. What influences do women have every time when they seen those size zero beautiful women in the media What is created in us by the advertising companies when they use beautiful women or public figure who are know to have undergone a lot of plastics surgery Most of the time where are those who we draw aspiration from. We always tend to associate with a public figure around which we centre our life. We tend to cope more to what they are doing or how they are living. Out life is shaped by what we see in them. Therefore when the public figure like Hilary Clinton and others celebrities undergo plastic surgery we are also encouraged to go for the same procedures in order to take after them In the psychological perspective, the construction of beauty has been changed from the earlier time when it was rooted on the individual to the modern times when it is rooted on the outlook of the society. Think of a young teenage girl who have been accepting her body for the all the years. But suddenly they start to hate their nose and are bang the surgeon rooms requesting for plastic surgery. Why have they all of a sudden hated their nose How have they been motivated to go for plastic surgery Do they know the effect of plastic surgery on their body There are many questions that we cannot find an answer to. This is because the concept of plastic surgery is deeply intertwined with what our children are growing up to see in the society. It has been what they have read and what they have seen happening to the celebrities which makes them motivated to seek the procedures. In conclusion we can say that social construction of beauty has been changing in the society and very fast. The evolution of medical technology has helped to give a new dimension in the construction of beauty and the society has as well increased its beauty bias. More often than not women have been valued in the society based on their beauty. This construction has helped to change the way women perceive themselves and the way they respect themselves. They will feel more equal to other only when they have gone through the procedure even if it may be meaningless to them. Conclusion Adams, W. (1999): Plastic surgery comparison with other types of operations. Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 103(1), pp, 260-280. Asthma, A. (2005): Half of British women consider Plastic Surgery. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/sep/25/health.gender on 29th May 2008 Becker, E. (1996): Body, self and society. New culture studies: university of Pennsylvania press. Blair, M. (1994): Born a female is an honor. Women and discourses of science: New York DeNoon, D. (2003). Latest Plastic surgery trends and stats. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/news/20030605/latest-plastic-surgery-trends-stats on 29th May 2008 Fraser, S. (2003). Cosmetics surgery, gender and culture. Palgrave McMillan Gryskiiewicz, P. (2001): Correction of Nasal contour deformities through the use of alloderm. Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 107, pp, 560-580 Hainken, E. (1997): A history of cosmetic surgery. John Hopkins University Press Ham, Y. (2003): Operative techniques and outcome of plastic surgery. Facial plastic surgery, 19(4), pp, 330-340. Jackson, T. (2001): plastic surgery for correction of irregularities. Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 107, pp, 553-559 Kobrin, S. (2004): More Women Seek Plastic Surgery. Retrieved from http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2067/context/archive on 29th May 2008 Paolo, S. (2007): A history of Plastic Surgery. Springer Book Sander, G. (2005). Beauty to cure the soul. Duke University Press Annotated bibliography Adams, W. (1999): Plastic surgery comparison with other types of operations. Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 103(1), pp, 260-280. The author gives a full description of plastic surgery and also compares it with other types of surgery. He explores various plastic surgeries and how they have gained use in the modern world. He makes a comparison of the plastic surgeries and the effect as opposed to other surgeries Becker, E. (1996): Body, self and society. New culture studies: university of Pennsylvania press. The author looks deeply into the cultural construction of beauty. She explores how the aspects to beauty and self image has been intertwined in the cultural life of the people she shows how social construction of beauty is more segmented women than men. Blair, M. (1994): Born a female is an honor. Women and discourses of science: New York. The book is all about being a female. It looks at various discourse of a woman from the scientific point of view. Though the author does not give a comparison female and male from a scientific perspective she helps the reader to understand females well. Gryskiiewicz, P. (2001): Correction of Nasal contour deformities through the use of alloderm. Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 107, pp, 560-580. The author talks about various procedures that are used in plastic surgery. It specifically looks into nasal reconstruction which has become one of the most famed plastic surgery. The author provided scientific procedures that are used in the process. Ham, Y. (2003): Operative techniques and outcome of plastic surgery. Facial plastic surgery, 19(4), pp, 330-340. The author basically explores the process of plastic surgery in detail. He takes us through the process that is employed in different plastic surgery. He also shows the expected outcome of the process. Jackson, T. (2001): plastic surgery for correction of irregularities. Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 107, pp, 553-559. The author basically talks about the process of plastic surgery ad how it is being used to correct a number of irregularities. The author also looks at the risk associated with the process. He also gives considerations which have to be made in the process. Asthma, A. (2005): Half of British women consider Plastic Surgery. Retrieved from, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/sep/25/health.gender on 29th May 2008. The author in this site discusses the process of plastic surgery and considers the view of the people. The author discuses how the process has come to be liked by people in light of a research carried out in Britain. The author also gives facts on why the procedure have become commonly used beating the earlier fear. DeNoon, D. (2003). Latest Plastic surgery trends and stats. Retrieved from, http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/news/20030605/latest-plastic-surgery-trends-stats on 29th May 2008. DeNoon in this issue discus the recent development in plastic surgery. There is an exploration of the recent technology that is being used in the process. The issue sets the trend in the society and shows why the process has become common among people. Kobrin, S. (2004): More Women Seek Plastic Surgery. Retrieved from, http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2067/context/archive on 29th May 2008. Kobrin shows the trend in plastic surgery in America among women. The author uses recent of a research in order to support his work. He explains why more women in America prefer to undergo plastic surgery. Paolo, S. (2007): A history of Plastic Surgery. Springer Book. Paolo takes us through the historical development of plastic surgery. He explores the forms of plastic surgery in the Greek society and takes us through the period of development until the modern plastic surgery. The author uses the social support theory to show the evolution of plastic surgery. Fraser, S. (2003). Cosmetics surgery, gender and culture. Palgrave McMillan. Fraser relates the use of cosmetics surgery with gender and the society. She shows how women have been pushed to the extreme of using cosmetic surgery due to the changing social construction of beauty in the society. The author gives a working relation between the three issues. Sander, G. (2005). Beauty to cure the soul. Duke University Press. Sander explores the psychological aspect of beauty. She relates the issue of beauty and the satisfaction of the individual. She relates the psychological needs of the individual with the demand to beautify oneself. Hainken, E. (1997): A history of cosmetic surgery. John Hopkins University Press. Hainken accounts for the development of plastic surgery in the society. The author gives a description of how plastic surgery has development and gained increased use in the society and the various constructions that surrounds this development. Read More