It started out by showing two TEENAGERS whose parents gave them boob jobs for high school graduation. HIGH SCHOOL, people. I'm talking like 17 and 18-year-olds. The girls said it's the best decision they ever made (because you've made a lot of seriously decisions by the time you're 17?). And how it boosted their self-confidence and made them happier, etc. etc. Yeah. Great. But you're SEVENTEEN for the love of god! If you're already unhappy with your body and your self at 17, how the hell are you going to feel after you have a baby or two and your stomach has that tell-tale "pooch"? Or after you get a few laugh lines around your eyes? Dear god. How about, instead of getting fake tits as a teenager in order to boost your self-esteem, you work your ass off in school and get yourself a full scholarship to a kick ass college? Or you work your ass off and break a few records in a sport at your high school? Apparently, it's easier to just ask Mommy & Daddy to shell out $7,000 for some fake tits. [shaking head]
Anyway, then they moved on to other stories. Three women who went to Costa Rica to get their plastic surgery so they could avoid the ridiculous cost of plastic surgery here in the United States. Fine and dandy. I will say, all three women looked beautiful after their surgeries (although I thought they looked beautiful before their surgeries too). But one had SERIOUS complications afterwards and had to return to Costa Rica to get every single procedure "fixed." [shaking head again]
Then they showed this woman who has had (literally) countless operations and procedures done to herself. She applies 8 billion creams and lotions every single day and injects herself with something or other every day, claiming it's "the fountain of youth." Uh huh. Sure it is lady. [Let's all shake our heads again.]
Anyway, I'm not really judging these women directly (although I still have serious problems with the parents who let their teenagers get breast implants). No, I'm judging society as a whole. I'm literally terrified for my two beautiful little girls who will grow up in a society where it seems a woman can never be pretty enough/thin enough/have big enough boobs/etc. It scares the living shit out of me. And I truly mean that. We live in a country where if you don't have big tits and no waist or stomach, you're considered to be "below average." Where if you (god forbid) you happen to need a size 10 or 12 in pants (which by the way, is the average size of women), you're considered "overweight." Where people (and women in particular) stop at absolutely nothing to achieve the "beauty" shoved down our throats daily in magazines, movies, television shows, and by our peers. It's disgusting.
Do I have some things about my physical appearance that I'd like to change? Sure. Who doesn't? But I also find beauty in my body that others may not see.
I look down at my slightly bulging belly and remind myself that the reason it looks that way is because it was stretched while it grew and nurtured my two stunningly gorgeous daughters.
And I look down at my thighs that are a little bigger and rounder than I'd like and remind myself that I'm shaped just like my mom, who I think is stunning.
And I look down at my smaller than average breasts that are just bordering on a B/C size and remind myself that although my boobs may be smaller than most of my friends' boobs, if they were bigger, they may be sagging by now. I, personally, think mine are fantastic. The perfect size if you ask me. Small enough to always remain "perky," but big enough to make me not look like a 10-year-old. They're gorgeously shaped, soft as all hell, and they move freely because there's nothing in there that was man-made in an attempt to make me look bigger/better/badder because someone else out there told me they should be bigger/better/badder. (Note: The following picture is NOT a picture a my own breasts. But they're about that size and I love 'em, dammit.)
Again, I seriously don't give a rat's ass which women out there have had plastic surgery and which women haven't. I have wonderful, true, dear friends who have had cosmetic surgery done and I don't judge them, begrudge them, or think any less of them. I truly, truly don't. But I if Grace or Hannah ever comes up to me while they're in high school and tells me they want to get a boob job, I can guarantee you that I won't be whipping out my checkbook in an attempt to "make my children happy." No, my friends. Instead, I'll slap them upside the head, ask them what the fuck is wrong with them, and then point out every wonderful, beautiful, stunningly gorgeous feature about them, inside and out.
We are ALL beautiful in our own ways. Every last one of us, dammit. I mean, look at this woman! She's breathtaking. I can tell by looking at the lines around her eyes that she spent much of her life smiling and laughing and enjoying the beauty of life. I can see a few of the wrinkles on her hands and fingers and I know that she worked hard during her life, washing dishes, planting flowers, bathing babies, stroking her childrens' foreheads, and doing whatever it took to get through the day. She's beautiful.
Anyway, I need to step down from the soapbox now. But I just needed to get this out there. 20/20 seriously had me wanting to vomit tonight and I wanted to vent. Sorry y'all had to listen to it.
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7 comments:
Hear, hear, sister.
damnit Kath you copied what I was going to say.
so hear hear hear hear....
Very well said
TOTALLY agree. Ridiculous. Long live the Dove ads that celebrate real women in their real skin looking really beautiful!
That woman IS beautiful. I am looking forward to aging with each and every laugh line, crows foot, and age spot that life gives me. I think natural women are gorgeous.
20/20 often gets me going like this! LOL! And I saw this and thought the same things.
I had those surgeries on my nose, you know, and I thought WHAT THE FUCK would someone volunteer for this for??! It was hell. When I found out I had to do the second one, I was seriously depressed. No shit. And yes, I breath a bit better, and it even ended up looking better, but really it was not fun at all. And I had lived thirty-four years with the nose I had, and I was just fine. I wonder how many people go into something like this, thinking it is no big deal at all because they see it on tv al the time? Because I can tell you, I was shocked how fucked up it was.
Whenever young girls have PS it makes me want to cry. You still have so much to learn about yourself! And those parents could have sent them on AMAZING trips to see some part of the world, and meet people, and they would have gained confidence and wisdom and experience instead of saline. *sigh* I understand if some feature is deformed, or something...Like I had a girl-friend who had a brest reduction because--wow!-- but really. And I had another friend who honestly had a nose like Milton Burl, no shit. Almost a deformity, and it was horrible for her.I would do that for Georgia, if she had THAT nose. But those things seem different than getting something like tits, to me. I don't know. It just chaps my ass, the message that sends to women about being women.
It is really such a symtom of our culture raising these little veal calfs who are too tender to deal with life, let alone the "pain" of having small tits. LOL! Fucking buck up, people!! What are they going to do when they find out big boobs won't get them what they want-- love from a person who really sees them?
I had tears in my eyes. Catherine came home when she was in 1st grade, 7 years old asking me if I thought she was fat cause some girls at school said she was. Wanted to go and kick someone who was probably 7 also.
I love growing old.
Great post!!
I was watching a program about a month ago about a teenage girl who DIED during nose surgery. She was a beautiful girl too. But not beautiful enough for her Mom. So sad.
(And btw, if your boobs look like that you're doing GOOD. I got about half that much. But I refuse to complain. More than a mouthful is a waste. So Hoop says. Hehe)
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