Bound to Perfection
I'm increasingly amazed at the money that people find floating around to pay for plastic surgery. I mean, these are people who would tell you that they hate being on a budget. I just don't get it. With more and more ways to stall the effects of aging, they become younger, as I appear to become older. My “city newsletter” is full of nothing but advertisements from plastic surgeons and bleaching tooth fairies. I find the newest phenomenon of pulling your face up by strings quite amusing.
Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to bribe father time from marching across my face. Nor am I in a position to flirt with the laws of gravity. Unfortunately? Hmm – maybe not. Perhaps I’m fortunate to have to deal with this life. I’ve survived thus far… and am a better person for it.
It’s like any other addiction. Just a bit here and a bit there, and we’re hooked. In time, what we picture as beautiful becomes an ugly restraint.
I’m not quite sure where I’m going with all of this. I’ve just been thinking that we’re supposed to be developing our minds, learning from life experiences, yada yada, yada. Yeah, all of that. But it seems that we are more concerned with figuring out how to take the fat out of our asses and add it to our lips.
With all of these shortcuts to perfection, how can we not be bound to fail?
posted by Christi Nielsen at 6:43 PM
20 Comments:
Your pictures amaze me.
Yeah, I hear you on this one. I've been toying with the idea of saving up for it, and dayum! What could I do with 9000 bucks! Travel? Get my doctorate? Buy gifts for everyone I've ever met? Sheesh, where does the quest to be perfect ever end? So I"ve got loose skin? Can I live with it? As usual Christi, very thought provoking. Thanks. I think (nervous lol)
I cannot tell you that if I won the lottery tomorrow, I wouldn't run to schedule an appointment to suck out this "hail damage" or bleach these teeth. We all have these beliefs that, without external circumstances, serve as idealistic predictors of behavior.
I have a friend who had an abortion after years of condemning those who do. I have another friend who came to terms with her son's gay marriage after years of condemning homosexuality. It doesn't mean they changed their mind on the issue. It means they changed their response when it became personal.
All that to say -- although I may present the argument that plastic surgery and the obsession with our bodies in general is frivolous when you look at world issues, I will not pretend that I turn my head to the vast resources of perfection that are presented to me on a daily basis. I would like to say that I take a stand against them. But in reality, finances might be the true driving force behind my refusal.
Do I think this represents a contradiction in my thinking? Of course.
I’m a proud of that? No.
Do I think that’s honest? Yes.
I’d so rather hear someone admit the ugly truth than bullshit their way through beautiful ideals.
Christi, I'm glad you said it, and said it so well. While I enjoy mocking the ones with perky, plastic boobs, and instant fat removal - I know that I watch with envy.
Nearly everyone I know has had some form of plastic surgery. I'm convinced that I'm the last hold-out, and I'm not giving in. I recently saw Diane Keaton on Oprah, and I've really loved Diane as a person and actress for so long, that I hung on to her every word. I loved her even more when she said that the reason she hasn't had, nor will she have, plastic surgery is that she wants to go out authentic. I LOVE that!!!
Great post and great picture!
P.S. I have had my teeth bleached. But that doesn't count does it? :)
haha - I used to bleach my teeth too.
My best friend is obsessed with plastic surgery. She's always telling me how much something costs and in what order she needs to get work done, etc. I'm always telling her to read "The Beauty Myth" and see that she's looking for an outside solution to an inside problem...BUT BUT BUT
I fantasize about a tummy tuck and batwing surgery after I lose my 120 pounds I need to lose. I can't afford it! Even if I put away $20 a week from now until all that weight is gone I still wouldn't be able to afford the procedure or the time off I'd need for recovery. It's tantalizing though, imagining myself with a flat stomach and Angela Bassett arms and no extra shar-pei skin.
That's me, a glass house dweller heaving rocks.
I just bought that book a few weeks ago, but I haven't had a chance to open it yet.
So at what point are you happy with yourself?
I find that plastic surgery and agumentation makes people look worse than when they started off.
Serves them right.
I re-read The Beauty Myth once every other year or so -- to remind me that I don't have to believe the hype of the media.
One of my Flickr friends posted an image of her late sister-in-law who died a week after WLS. I asked permission to pass this along as I know many of the readers here are WLS folks. This is not to say you shouldn't go that route. It's just a reminder of how serious a decision it is to go under any knife. She has a story worth telling, and I hope you all will check it out. She was a fellow artist, and Cunis will be posting images of some of her work soon.
We'd be happy to have you pass her pic and the message along. We were devastated after she died so horribly from that surgery. None of us wanted her to have it, but her fiance was pressuring her to get thin, and she felt that this was her only option. She suffered for hours before she died, with the blood clots closing up her lungs. It's not a kind of surgery to take lightly, even though the surgeons are selling it that way, trying to make money off of people's suffering. She was a wonderful person. I wish that she could have just made peace with her body. Some of us are never meant to be Madison Avenue thin.
Thanks,
C.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cunisdiabolis/112872217/
i too live in dallas. there is an inordinate amount of pressure here to go the plastic surgery route.
if and when i can afford it - i will have the tummy tuck and boob lift.
3 pregnancies and nursed each baby all in five years. i want my body back...
and i don't have a problem with this personal desire. i look forward to it.
thank you for for another very thought provoking post.
Luckily, I'm still pretty okay with what I see in the mirror: I've never been okay with what I see in the mirror, but it's not so bad that I have to do anything about it. I feel sorry for celebrities because if they don't do anything, they get chided for "hitting the wall" and if they do something, then they're labeled as "freaks." NO WIN SITUATIONS!!!
I see lots of unclothed bodies in my profession. True, I don't know your history....I don't deny or make light of your angst.
BUT- you are NOT fat. I have seen fat. You are NOT ugly. I have seen ugly. And you are very talented.
In my book, you're a package.
You are amazing. So glad I found your blog (by way of The Fat Girl). Thank you for you.
I have been following your blog....I used to work with your father and someone here at work told me about your site....it's awesome and your pictures are awesome and your commentary is awesome.....just wanted to let you know.
Thank you all. Sorry I've been away the last week or two. My computer is going under the knife next week, so hopefully all will be well again soon!
reasterw - thanks - my dad says hi.
Wow. This is a phenomenal picture. Impressive.
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