The things you hear in the office: "My husband wants me to have a breast enlargement."
Of course, its none of my business what she does with her breasts, or the reasons why she would do it, but i am curious.
- Do husbands have that much influence over their wives? To the extent they would seriously consider (and seek advice from friends about) undergoing such radical cosmetic surgery?
- Why are women concerned about the size of their breasts?
- Generally speaking, why are women more likely to be concerned about their appearances (skin complexion, weight, body hair, etc.) than men?
Yes, i think men have more influence over their wives than they think they do. Very often, she may disagree with him initially, but later, go right about and try to find a way to accomodate his wishes (demands?). This in itself is probably not necessarily a bad thing, women, i've noticed, tend to place a lot of value on family harmony, and its conceivable she would go out of her way to ensure that the family (and her husband) are happy. Sometimes, the only way that happiness can be achieved is if one side gives in to what the other wants.
The breast on the left has been enlarged with a saline-implant.
Pic from Food & Drug Administration, Dr Walter Peters.
What is curious is the lengths they would go to do it: breast enlargement surgery is no small matter, and are linked to many self-esteem issues on the part of the woman, i.e. "My husband thinks my breasts are not large enough to please him? I'm inadequate, i must do something to correct it."
I wonder whether the plastic surgery industry strives on the insecurities and esteem issues of women. Do women who perform plastic surgery on themselves do it because they are unhappy with their appearances in some way?
My breasts are too small (or large). I've got this large piece of flab hanging under my arms. My face looks droopy, shall i get a facelift? The angle of my nose is not quite right, i should have it shaped.
Every part of the body can be adjusted, changed, modified and shaped to meet some expectation of beauty. It almost seems funny to me, and i would laugh if it wasn't so real and serious for so many.
Has society -- through the media, Kate Moss, magazines, Oscar red-carpets -- engineered our minds to accept a standard idea of "beauty"? If you're not like this, then you're not beautiful. And, we all want to be beautiful, don't we? Part of Maslow's pyramid of needs, i'm afraid; the dreaded need of self-actualization.
Let's challenge that thought by replacing it with another -- we are beautiful now! Sure, we should do our best to stay healthy. Exercise, right foods and enough sleep will keep the fats at bay. A proper diet and general observation of hygiene will take care of the complexion. The right clothes will make any man (or woman). Just because we won't succumb to the pressures of false beauty, it doesn't mean we should intentionally be messy or selekeh. Be presentable, and to be presentable, you don't need the pills, the injections, the plastic surgery. When you change yourself artificially, you're actually really changing much more than your body. You're giving in to an inherent weakness of the human mind: the herd.
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