Plastic Surgery or Natural Beauty

Plastic Surgery vs Natural Beauty Essay

The history of humanity shows that society has always greatly influenced the perception of values, needs, and aesthetic issues. The development of plastic surgery is bright evidence of how the norms and daily forces can make people change their appearance and risk their lives. With the changes in beauty standards nowadays, the choice between natural beauty and plastic surgery is an issue of personal decision and need. A beautiful appearance is valued much more than a contribution to the perception of self in a propitious way. Instead, it corresponds to the demands of society and of the world that lets one live in a new reality and be happier in many ways.

Among the most widely spread arguments against plastic surgery, one can hear that it is fake and unnatural. Starting with the “God’s image” met in the Bible, there are several beliefs that make up corrupt beauty and make women be referred to as the “bad” ones (Holliday & Taylor 182). Since the early times, falsely beautiful women were mostly associated with seduction, sexuality, and manipulations, which can easily confuse men. Therefore, religious people are not likely to agree with the ability to change the human appearance that is provided nowadays. If everything, including appearance, is given by God, people have no right to alter it. Consequently, women, who search for beauty through surgery, are non-religious and sinful. However, it happens very often that the aim of women is “normalizing their bodies” instead of searching for beauty (Holliday & Taylor 188). It happens that some of the deviations do not let people live happy and full lives. Hence, aesthetic operations become associated with the desire to be “normal” instead of the sinful or manipulative issues mentioned above. As a result, the question to answer is whether the label of fake or real is worth human suffering. It is obvious that all people want to be happy, and such help becomes an effective means to improve the world.

The feminists’ views varied through time. However, one of the crucial ideas offered by them is that fake or natural values depend on the gender models that are shaped with time. The happiness and satisfaction of people depend greatly on the fact of corresponding or not to these rules. Consequently, even though fake beauty is not given by God and is unnatural, it is important to remember that people are social creatures, who can suffer from being different from the generally accepted stereotypes. However, feminists connect natural beauty to passivity and consider gender as the crucial notion to agree to aesthetic operations. Negrin emphasizes gender inequality as a feature that is “responsible for women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies” (39). Plastic surgery is the result of the “idealized femininity” and “patriarchal ideology” (Holliday & Taylor 182). Even though such a view represents women as the victims of gender discrimination, at that stage of life they have accepted the norms dictated to them. For instance, the interview of women presented by Gimlin has shown numerous pieces of evidence that females tend to “reposition their bodies as normal” (77). Being inconsistent with the existing norms of beauty has become an issue that makes women feel unhappy, disappointed, and unconfident. Hence, aesthetic operations become the means to change the negative emotional state of women for the better. Some researchers even give evidence that plastic surgery is a good way to “reproductive success and biological adaptation” (Adamson et al. 5). Consequently, cosmetology, breast surgery, and dozens of other operations remain effective means of contributing to women’s psychological health.

Physical pain and several possible complications after the surgeries are the aspects that make many people argue about the necessity of aesthetic operation. According to many people, it is an unjustified “invasion of the human body” that leaves nothing but subjugation (Gimlin 77). The possible negative consequences of such an “invasion” can be the same as after any other serious operation. The drawbacks comprise blooding, infecting, soft tissue necrosis, thrombus formation, skin sensitivity drift, or poor recovery. However, not many people agree that plastic surgery saves lives and is worth such suffering. Additionally, there are numerous possible advantages of the operations. Sometimes, aesthetic operations improve the physical state of a person (Negrin 35). For instance, liposuction lets women get rid of superfluous fats and leads to a decrease in pressure on the spine and joints. In such a way, the level of human performance grows and brings positive results for the overall health state.

Natural Beauty vs Artificial Beauty

The next argument against aesthetic operations is connected with their high price. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on cosmetic surgery each year. Moreover, these expenses grow by 10% annually (Gimling 78). However, the statistics show that such expenses are usually justified. Beauty shapes new realities and contributes to the success and confidence of a person. The changes in some unattractive peculiarities lead to the growth of self-esteem. As a result, the growth of inner confidence contributes to improvements in socialization and cooperation with people around. In some cases, the operations can change the model of a person’s behavior completely (Adamson 7). Considering aging as the process that takes the beauty away, many women estimate plastic surgery as a crucial way to support happiness in their lives, the love of their husbands, etc. (Clarke & Griffin 188). Prevention of natural aging with the help of anti-wrinkle cosmetics, surgeries, and non-surgical cosmetic procedures are the means, which are worth the risks and expenditure to make a woman satisfied and happy. The aesthetic operation intended for appearance improvement often promotes career advancements, as attractive people are usually more successful and desired. Hence, the operations are compensated even from the most practical perspective.

To sum it up, there are many contradictory arguments considering the attitude towards plastic surgery in the modern world. The decisions and perceptions of this phenomenon are highly dependent on human worldview and lifestyle. Moreover, the choice to agree to the operation is dependent on the psychological state and social position of a person. Anyway, the condemnation of plastic surgery is often irrelevant for several advantages it brings not only to the physical but mainly psychological state of people.