roseembolism | Plastic Surgery: a generational divide?

I was surprised when I mentioned My Beautiful Mommy on rpg.net, mainly because of the reaction. The vast majority of people there had no real problems with the book, and were either enthusiastic about the idea of plastic surgery for themselves, or were annoyed that people cared about what other people did to themselves.

It's weird; I'm feeling like there's a generational gap in attitudes toward plastic surgery, with the younger generation being much more accepting of using drastic methods to seriously mold one's appearance on a large scale. They frame it in terms of individuality, and compare it to dying one's hair. the actual risks are handwaved away.

It leads me to think that now body image issues are so integrated that they are seen not as a problem, but as a normal lifestyle element.. In other words, if the dresses in the store don't fit you, it's not the fault of the designer, you need to shape yourself because YOU are wrong.

I honestly feel like I've wandered into the world of Logan's Run.

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I am just as puzzled as you are. That level of deep-seated body shame is a scary place . Then again, wouldn't my eagerness for a computer implant seem just as bizarre?

No, because that would be part of your plan to take over the world- keep your priorities straight!

And I've always thought computer implants would be pretty innocuous looking. Unless it involves a huge Borglike head assembly.

Current implants are pretty subtle, but the upgrades are just a tad risky. I’m looking forward to some of the brainwave-scanning headsets for video game systems.

I'm holding out for full VR immersion.

I love that icon, BTW.

You can get T-shirts at wearscience.com.

It's hard to say that the typical reaction on rpg.net is at all representative of real people.

God I hope not. I'd like to look at a poll of "average" Gen Y and Z's and see what they think.

The thing, is I would have thought gamers would be less inclined toward casual acceptance of plastic surgery. Maybe I'm looking at the issue from a wrong perspective though.

Umm, you're talking about a segment of the population that probably has big crossover with the cosplay and furry subcultures. Body dysmorphia's probably rampant.

In other words, if the dresses in the store don't fit you, it's not the fault of the designer, you need to shape yourself because YOU are wrong.

Gotta admit it's practical. I don't have the power to change what's in the store. ("We" as a group might have that power, but it's going to take a lot longer than surgery recovery.)

I...am going to crawl under the bed and hide, now.

Because the world is that @#$!ed up? Yeah. I know the feeling. Problem is, I couldn't figure out how to spend the rest of my life under the bed.

I have no issue with the existence of plastic surgery, per se, but I *am* frequently disgusted by unrealistic body images pushed by various sources - especially on young girls - and I feel sorry for anyone who seeks out surgery, thinking that they *should* look like some trout-pouty, implant-bearing freak.

(Says the woman who'd get a boob job in an instant, but it wouldn't be to add any more on - no, sir!)

The book, however, is strange and a bit disturbing. Especially that pic of "new and improved Mommy" - because that was disgusting on so many levels... "Sweetie, if Mommy's not perfect, then Mommy is BAD and A FAILURE..." *gah!*

To me the body image element is far more important than the actual surgery, and the idea that one should cut onself up to reach a media-derived ideal.

And the book...I'm just imagining a line of children's books around this theme. Imagine an"ugly duckling" or "cinderella" oriented around the theme of plastic surgery.

I copied the Livejournal-sponsored ad that I saw when I came to this page below.

Tummy Tucks in Toronto
Get a flatter stomach by a skilled Plastic surgeon. Book your consult!
lafontainesurgery.com/Tummy-Tuck

To no small extent it's because we've beome accustomed to external interventions. Myslef, for instance, I depend pretty heavily on my antidepressants. If I wanted to look better on the outside, why not?

But then, we come to the issue of unrealistic body expectations and the relatively unknown side consequences of these interventions. Liposuction patients have to wear girdles for months so their insides don't fall out; Nicole Kidman post-Botox can only express a limited number of emotions; penis enlargement surgery is a really bad idea. Trying to look like Barbie (or Ken) is a bad idea, for so many reasons.

Livejournal ads are often good for irony.

And I definitly see a debatable issue with using medical interventions (whther pills or surgery) taking over when counseling falters. I even have to wonder whether my dependence on meds isa good thing.

But the bottom line is like you I'm bothered by the unrealistic body expectations, and especially the way they are foiseted on children.

Revolting as I find it personally, I can't help wondering if it isn't to this current generation of young'uns as body piercings and tattoos are to us - the next step in using your body as a palette. They've grown up in a culture where a certain amount of body modification is considered cool; why would surgically changing their body be a bad thing?

That said, I wouldn't mind it so much if it were popularized for reshaping your face and/or body to interesting or fanciful modes rather than simply trying to bring it back to an impossible social ideal.

That's one thing I've been wondering as well, especially with the increasing acceptance of body modifications.

II do have to wonder where the combination of body-shaping and media-influenced body expectations will end. A world where you have masses of people sculpted to look like popular stars?

There was a plastic surgeon out in LA, I believe, who specialized in reshaping women's posteriors to look like those of various Hollywood hotties. He got his license revoked for skeevy medical practices, iirc. But it's sort of frightening to think that there are people willing to do that to themselves.

The real world might end up something like World of Warcraft character creation, where there is one body type, six or so face types, and the same number of hair arrangements. The only way you'll be able to tell your date from the hundreds of other people at the mall who look like him, is by locating him with a GPS tracker.

Plastic Surgery: a generational divide?

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