Plastic surgery has
transformed from a celebrity fad, to an obsession for some. In our society
whose dominant ideologies revolve around physical attractiveness, it is
expected that those people who are in the spotlight 24/7 should be picking
apart their bodies to make themselves “better”. Granted, if you are a
celebrity, you are probably already very good looking. But these people face
more pressure than noncelebs to have every feature proportionate and youthful
looking. As consumers who buy the magazines and watch the gossip TV, we most
likely baulk at their actions and ridicule the botched surgeries. However, we
are also the people who scrutinize and compare ourselves to celebrities in the
first place. The ideology of America that your outside appearance is the most
important and can get you farther in life defines our superficial culture. It
has been researched that companies are more prone to hire more attractive
candidates. Dr. Gordon Patzer, author of Looks:
Why They Matter More Than You Ever Expected, found that “Recent studies document that people blessed with good looks earn about
10 percent more than their average-looking colleagues. They are also more
likely to get hired and promoted at work” (Mandell, 2010). There are many research
studies that have shown that employers favor attractiveness, and that beautiful
people have an easier time with getting what they want. With actual research
done to show the extent to which we value physical beauty, it should be
expected that this is such an obsessive goal for many people. It is ironic that
plastic surgery is used as a means to achieve more physical beauty, yet a large
percentage of surgeries have negative outcomes. Heidi Montag, an MTV star,
decided to get 10 procedures done all in the same day. She totally transformed
her body, and has received much criticism for this, and actually looks older
than she did before.
So is this culture originating from us, the people? Are we encouraging
this bodily deformation? Yes, I believe we are. We value material things like
money, possessions, and physical looks above all things. My question is, are
these the kind of ideas we want to project upon our future generations and
teach our kids that these things are what we should revolve our lives around?
Mandell, L. J. (2010, May 18). Do pretty
girls get all the jobs? Retrieved March 27, 2012,
