SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL
SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL
By Nicole Gustave
Tell us what you don’t like about yourself?
This line is from the television show Nip/Tuck on the FX channel, which was asked by partner plastic surgeons who would ask this of their potential clients. This Ryan Murphy drama followed the dark and twisted trials of these surgeons, yes, Ryan Murphy, the man who created the show American Horror Story. I watched that show religiously from when it premiered in 2003 until it ended in 2010, and let me tell this show was truly dark and twisted. I liked the show so much, that I bought the soundtrack. The opening song for the show is titled A Perfect Lie and opens with the singer seductively saying “make me beautiful” over scissored sound effects and synthesizer beats, with not many lyrics other than the hook “perfect soul, perfect mind, perfect face, a perfect lie.” Speaking of music, you have artists like Beyonce singing the song Pretty Hurts, Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful, or TLC’s Unpretty, these songs are all about body image. But, back to the show, I was drawn to this show like a magnet, even though some of the subject matter was a bit disturbing, but I guess that with every episode I let my curiosity get the better of me, and I just continued watching it. With a cut here and a stitch there we can forever alter our appearance. Gone are the days when a woman would just get hair extensions, long fingernails, and fancy clothes, although those things still happen, add a bigger butt, larger breasts, darker or lighter skin, let’s not forget those filters too, and voila, you have transformed into a new you. This is real life, and thanks to social media we can like and share our way to body perfection, it might land us a spot on show, a relationship with a baller, or net us a financial windfall from OnlyFans, or a combination of all them.
Image courtesy of Pexels. | Photographer: Anna Shvets
DYING FOR THE RIGHT LOOK
I thought the show glamorized plastic surgery, after all, there were shows like The Swan, Botched, and Extreme Makeover just to name a few that gave away free makeovers, so Nip/Tuck just ran with that and added sex, violence, and family situations to the mix. Plastic surgery is a multi-billion dollar industry, if you are a plastic surgeon your medical degree will most likely be paid off in your first 2 years of practice, and if you are really good then you can afford a million-dollar mansion complete with expensive cars lining your driveway. I saw a video on social media of a woman lying on her stomach giving a cautionary tale of why you should not have a BBL, she spoke about the procedure and the pain she endures daily as she continues to heal. This reminded me of the time I had my brush with the desire to have plastic surgery, no-it wasn’t for breast implants, a smaller nose, or a bigger butt, it was of all things for smaller breasts. I developed very early, while other girls were getting training bras, my mother was buying bras to fit my B-cups when I was 12 years old, and they only got bigger with every year I aged. By the time I hit my mid-teens I had ballooned up to a D-cup, kids were cruel, and grown men couldn’t keep their pedophile eyes off me. I begged my mother to get rid of them, so she took me to see a plastic surgeon, he advised me and my mother that there would be a lot of cutting involved, and scarring afterward. I ran out of the office crying with my mother not far behind me, we got in the car, and she just sat there unsure what to say to me, and I looked up at her and said “I have PSI”, and she asked what is that to which I replied “Poor self-image”. She hugged me, and for some odd reason, I began to feel better. I decided to keep my ladies, as I like to call them, and I have since embraced my 36HH cups at the ripe old age of 48.
Image courtesy of Unsplash | Photographer: @zinco
I began thinking about what women were willing to give to have the perfect nose, the perfect shape, or even the perfect face, what sacrifice so great so as to have a bigger butt? Social media had the answers, and the news media had the statistics. The truth about plastic surgery is an ugly one, with every successful surgery came death, and the numbers are mindblowing. The death rate from plastic surgery is 1 in 50,000 procedures and that comes out to approximately 100 cosmetic surgery-related deaths per year. From visiting other countries where cosmetic procedures are cheap than in the US or having some cosmetic procedures done in someone’s home. We have all heard of Botox parties, flowing margaritas, lively music, and someone with vials of Botox and needles ready to poke you where you please, and no one checks licenses or thinks that this is not the best environment to do the injections. Recently a woman in Indiana who decided to go to the Dominican Republic for two body-shaping procedures died of pulmonary edema, cerebral edema, and respiratory failure, and another woman from New York died in Miami from complications after injections caused a fat embolism while having a Brazillian butt lift procedure. So, it seems that no matter where you travel there is always a risk that a cosmetic procedure can end your life. I was told by a wise woman that women are mirrors of each other, sometimes when we look at the living and breathing mirror we lose sight of our own beauty because all we see is hers. I have had women come up to me on the street and asked for the name of my plastic surgeon because they want my size breasts, and my reply is well if you believe in God then you need to ask him what he charges because these are natural. I get the shocked look, and then the comment “gosh, I wish I had your breasts”.
Image courtesy of Unsplash | Photographer: Sora Shimazaki
JUST BE ME
I believe that we, as women pay a higher price for perfection, men do too to a certain degree, I mean who can forget the human Ken doll, who is now transgender since coming out in 2010, or the man who has spent lots of money so that he can look like his idol, Kim Kardashian. There are definitely instances when men pay a high price for the perfect body whether transgendering or seeking an Adonis-like body. But, women pay the higher price in my opinion, due to our constant want for what we see and the desire to do anything to get it. I will never judge any woman who wants to go under the knife, for it is her body and she can do with it as she pleases, and I am only writing from my own experience and what I have seen since. It is true that we are mirrors of each other, from our faces to our shapes, however, I choose to look into my own mirror and admire the woman standing before me all the while admiring the mirror of the walking or posting woman I see me no matter her shape, size, or body type.
Article by
Nicole Gustave
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
IMAGES COURTESY OF UNSPLASH & PEXELS | PHOTOGRAPHERS:
Anna Shvets, Sora Shimazaki, Raul de los Santos, and Cottonbro
Images are used for illustration purposes only.
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Celebrities mentioned in the article are not affiliated with and do not endorse DHMICON.COM, its writers, or blogs.
