Oh, and need I remind people that purely physical attributes do not completely help in this definition? For people like me, thank bloody god. You knew that though, didn’t you, canny reader? Let’s face it, if I were an absolute hottie, I’d probably be at some pub frequented by randy uni students and allowing them to sprinkle salt on risqué spots on my curvaceous form so that they can lick it off as part of the mandatory tequila slammers.
I wouldn’t be here, admitting to you that I’ve even heard of the series Dr. 90210 let alone viewed it. I digress, again — always making it about me. Enough jokes: this seventeen-year-old says she’s getting bigger boobs so she can go to the beach. What, so she can’t go to the beach with her current, natural breasts? She isn’t even flat-chested!
Personally speaking, I think it may have something to do with cosmetic surgery being more culturally acceptable in the States, because of its popularity. The surgeon who will be operating on the girl says, and I paraphrase, that some kids want a new car when they graduate while some girls want a new rack. A new rack? She’s a person, not a piece of meat! He could have said ‘a new look’, or ‘a better/different body’, but the phrase ‘new rack’ implies that there was something wrong with the old one, or that it wasn’t all that good to begin with. The human reduced to an object that can be replaced, upgraded, modified, and so forth. I guess in ten years’ time, I’ll find out I’m really a Replicant, won’t I? Sheesh.
Aside from the much-maligned media, a part of me wants to pin this generalised lack of self-esteem on the mother. Yes, I understand it’s a hard task raising a child, hence my vowing never to do it (mainly for medical reasons) but after nearly a decade of therapy, it’s become pretty clear to me that the mother-daughter relationship can be as constructive as it is destructive. It sounds painfully obvious, but it doesn’t seem to be, at least in my magical universe.
Again, we return to the teenager. I find myself wondering why her mother hasn’t told her that there are more important things in life than having nice funbags to fill your bikini, or why she shouldn’t wait a few years till her body reaches full maturity. Or that her daughter is beautiful the way she is. Or that this could lead to a lifetime obsession with attaining the perfect physical appearance (the breast augmentation would be her second cosmetic procedure. She had already had a nose job) Perhaps the cameras didn’t capture any of that dialogue?
Article comments
1 - anony.
but people still say..beauty sells...
2 - Snarkattack
Uh, yeah. So what?
Besides, what exactly does it 'sell'?
3 - Tomas
Thank you for the article. You have depicted what happens when physical forms are put over the morality. That defines the situation in the fine arts. Currently, the symbols are removed from any content and thus the beauty ceases inspiring and produces the emptiness, the impression of the futility and the eternal "to be or not to be" so arises.
Art didn’t create but just reflect our reality, our attitudes towards the eternities.
4 - Snarkattack
Thanks very much for your poignant and intelligent comment, Tomas. I especially like your last line - that is a very nice way of putting it, and indeed I do agree.
5 - Ruth
Americans are absurd. That's the only explanation for this.
6 - Snarkattack
Ruth, you're too funny! I'd prefer not to malign all Americans by labelling them all absurd.
I don't plan to have kids, but if I had daughters I'd be doing everything I could to build healthy self-esteem. Not sure I'd be an ideal model as a chronic depressive but I'd try. Plus it looks so damn painful, and waiting - that's an option. One's attitude to one's body changes as we get older.
I sure don't hate mine as much as I used to, and it's not that crash-hot at present!
7 - samantha
Even though this article is a year old and you've probably forgotten it by now but what drew me to this article was the sad fact that the majority of American women are in a never ending search for the ideal beauty. In addition to the various shows dedicated to "upgrading" the human body,( i.e Dr.90212, Nip Tuck, Extreme Makeover) we also have MTV and their sickeningly beautiful models strutting the airwaves 24/7 and poisoning the minds of American youth with pictures of unrealistic bodily proportions. You should get around to reading Beauty and Sadness ( or have you already done so?) because it is about idealized beauty and how it can be used to destroy the people who wish to obtain it.
8 - Snarkattack
No I've not read "Beauty and Sadness" (which I did mention in my article) but thank you for the comment.