The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 19, 1999, Page A12, Image 12
VIEWPOINTS
Society Issues
Plastic surgery does more damage than Barbie dolls to self-image
Plastic surgery
today is
cheaper, bet
ter (although still
not performed by
board-certified
plastic surgeons in
many cases), and a
way to a happier
self-image for
younger and
younger people.
And a way to
an unrealistic self
ideal for people
even younger than
that.
Let’s start
Emily Streyer
is Viewpoints
Editor. She can
be reached via
The Gamecock at
gckviews@sc.edu
with what we see
every day: actresses on television and in
films. Chances are, they didn’t get the
roles because of their bodies; they got
their bodies because of the roles they
wanted.
Those established in the business
sometimes have the authority to be cast
for their talent, but newcomers frequent
ly head to the surgeon because, if the
script calls for a 38-24-36, it’s a lot easier
for the producers to get someone who fits
those proportions rather fhan put their
costumer or cinematographer through the
trouble of creating an illusion. They’ll let
a surgeon do that.
Hollywood isn’t the only one to
blame. When fashion designer Giorgio
Armani, for example, designs women’s
clothes, he pretends they don’t have
breasts.
A telling indication of the trend this
century’s designers have followed can be
found in a recent exhibit at the Paris Mu
seum of Fashion. The first part of the
chronological exhibit displayed clothes
on seamstress’ mannequins that reflected
the shapes of the women who would
wear the clothes: short and round. By the
1980s, the mannequins in the exhibit rep
resented the designers’ ideals: tall, with
nearly flat chests and hips and thighs that
did not flare.
I recall a few years ago when Barbie
took a lot of heat for her proportions.
“Little girls are growing up with unrealis
tic ideas of what women look like,” the
feminists cried. Little girls might be
growing up with notions that having
three houses, five cars and a dune buggy
is normal, but Barbie’s body isn’t what
causes problems for adolescents.
No little girl knows women who look
like Barbie. Barbie’s knees don’t bend all
the way, and her breasts don’t move at
all. No little girl wants to look like Barbie
- although they might like to have her
wardrobe and fleet of convertibles. Be
“Little girls expect
to grow up like the
women they see
every day in the
media; they don’t
expect to grow
into plastic dolls.”
sides, if Barbie causes poor self-images,
why is it that 8-year-olds aren’t anorexic?
Thirteen-year-olds are anorexic.
Little girls do, however, see movies
and fashion magazines. They know Bar
bie isn’t real. But many of the people we
see on the big and small screens aren’t re
al, either - or, at least, not every part of
them is. And what we see in the fashion
pages isn’t always real; the models are
air-brushed. Little girls don’t know this.
They expect to grow up to look like the
women they see every day in the media;
they don’t expect to grow into plastic
dolls. That’s why 13-year-olds are
anorexic.
What concerns me more is what the
next step for plastic suigery will be. Aftei
all, suigery isn’t fun. Why not grow up
with a perfect body in the first place?
With last winter’s $50,000 offer for eggs
from a 5-foot-10-inch blue-eyed blonde
who made 1400 or higher on the SAT in
mind, I wonder if the babies of the rich
one day will be naturally conforming to
unnatural ideals. Plastic suigeiy, as a last
ditch effort to correct what should have
happened at conception, would become
the least disturbing evidence of our in
ability to deal with physiological reality.
There are many arguments for the
benefits of non-reconstructive plastic
surgery, but most of them involve, in one
way or another, the pursuit of perfection
(as opposed to the more noble cause of
restoration of normalcy), perfection ap
parently being one of the necessities for
good emotional health. And in a free so
ciety, we allow people to chase perfec
tion as long as they please.
The problem, it seems, with a mar
ket-driven society is that blame for its
faults lies with the people'in it - not on
some mysterious force or government in
stitution, which could easily be changed
upon a public outcry. Changing the no
tion of what women’s bodies should look
like is a matter of choosing to keep our
selves the way we were bom. If we are
concerned with children’s understanding
of reality, we ought to first examine our
own.
NRA offers solution to roommate problems
Need to kill —
your roommate?
Is he leaving
dirty socks on
your side of the
microwave or
eating all of your
rice cakes? Join
the NRA now.
Each NRA
membership in
cludes a $10,000
accidental death
and dismember
ment coverage.
Here’s the plan:
Take him out
hunting for
squirrels in the
Horseshoe area. While he’s checking out
the girls who lie down with their shirts
off while their dogs run around peeing all
over the Horseshoe, aim and fire your
registered handgun. Or when he’s
stunned after getting hit in the head with
a Frisbee, take aim and shoot him near
the leg. He’ll probably bleed to death, but
if he does just lose the leg, he can still
collect the dismemberment insurance.
Then again, they might have some sort of
glause against that type of thing.
The NRA has 2.8 million members
nationwide. Don’t let its cute little
hunter name fool you; only a few mem
bers actually own just a rifle. Most own
handguns and other convenient murder
weapons. Ironically, people bring these
handguns into their homes for protection.
This is their constitutional right given
by the Second Amendment, of course.
Besides, “guns don’t kill people, people
kill people.” Just ask the great “dispute re
solver, Bernard Goetz. How many people
would Colin Ferguson have killed if he
had had only a knife? But read the Sec
ond Amendment and note the first part:
“a well-regulated militia, being necessary
to the security of a free State.” Members
of the NRA like to quote only the second
part: “The right of the people to keep and
bear arms shall not be infringed.” The
first part of the amendment clearly limits
the second to well-trained militias.
Whether you think you have a right
to own a gun, a grenade launcher or a
small bomb, the point is that the NRA has
too much political power and is one of
the many powerful lobbies corrupting our
political system.
There is an undeniable correlation be
tween murder rates and lax gun laws.
Other countries know what they’re do
ing. Murder rates in cities like Geneva,
Paris and London are low because of
strict gun restrictions.
Here are some Fun Gun Facts:
•According to the New England Jour
nal of Medicine, guns kept in the home
for protection are 43 times more likely to
kill a family member than an assailant.
•For every fatal shooting, there are
about six gunshot injuries.
•Gunshot injuries cost $14 billion a
year, and 80 percent of that is paid by
public funds.
•A membership with the NRA enti
tles you to member discounts on Ameri
can, Canadian and Continental airlines. If
you travel by air, you might have an in
tense fear of flying. If you are one of
those people and are afraid of hearing “I
have a gun,” avoid those airlines.
•On the membership application, en
tering your date of birth is optional.
While getting your baby’s social security
number, why not get a lifetime member
ship to the NRA? (Lifetime memberships
expire if a bullet lodges into your heart,
seizing your life.)
•There’s even a junior membership
that comes with the magazine Insights,
for your kids. What ever happened to
Highlights? When your son asks,
“Where’s Waldo?,” you’ll have to ex
plain, “Waldo’s gone. Someone thought
he was a bunny.”
•How about your own NRA Master
Card? That’s right, a percentage of each
purchase helps raise the murder rate.
•Don’t cut off a Hertz or National
rental car. They’ll be the most likely to
shoot you in the head, rather than just
giving you the finger. You’ll end up in a
hearse, thanks to NRA discounts.
•Waking up to gunshots in the middle
of the night, you must have stayed at the
Days Inn, HoJo, Ramada or Travel
Lodge. Thirty-percent-off rates, for NRA
members.
Whether you agree with the call for
stricter gun laws, it is clear that the NRA
is far more than a rifle association. It has
continued to oppose any legislation ban
ning handguns or even automatic
weapons. Not even Moses could con
vince me that the NRA is a respectable
organization.
Washington Post
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