I read the article “Young Woman’s Plastic Surgery Obsession” on ABC news’ website. This article talked about a 33-year-old girl who spent $83,000 on plastic surgery to ‘fix’ her whole body. She was tormented as a kid for having a large nose. She got nose surgery and loved the results. So, she continued on to get the rest of her body slimmed and shaped to be ‘perfect.’ The young woman, Neikie Reno, said, “I don't think that there's a limit, as long as you make yourself feel confident.” In my opinion, there are a lot of things wrong with this statement. By saying this, Reno is implying that in order to have self-confidence, we have to be adjusted surgically. This is the reason why so many young girls today are becoming anorexic and wearing heavy makeup; they feel the need to look ‘perfect.’
Since we were little, girls have been exposed to this essence of beauty that the world expects of them. They were given Barbies, with skinny legs and big boobs and makeup and blond hair. Then, they were sat in front of the television where ads for makeup and diets were not edited out. As they get older, girls order magazines like Seventeen, Teen Vogue, Glamour and Cosmopolitan. The other magazines don’t sensor their entire magazine as much, as Seventeen magazines supposedly do. I have read Seventeen magazines for years and all I read in the health section is “love your body!” But then, they continue on by telling you what healthy foods to eat are and give you a full workout plan. How can I love my body when you’re telling me to work out every day and eat this instead of that? While they don’t have pictures showing girls pretty much naked like Cosmopolitan does, the other three magazines don’t edit out showy ads. These magazines make girls believe that they are supposed to act showy around guys as girls see these ads every day.
Shows like Toddlers and Tiaras are perfect examples of what’s happening to our society today. Parents are living through their children and children are learning to like looking like someone else with the makeup and fake hair and fake teeth. The person who wins a pageant is based off of beauty. But is it really beauty? How can a three-year-old wearing ten pounds of makeup, a hot pink and bright orange sparkly dress, a pound of fake hair, fake eyelashes and spray tan be judged as beautiful? They’re not even themselves. So, whether you are getting $83,000 dollars in surgery, wearing makeup every day, or having your three-year-old spray-tanned, you are just proving the fact that something is very wrong with the perception of beauty today.
