The Impact of Plastic Surgery and Evolving Beauty Standards

The Instagram Look and Its Impact

The "Coca Cola body" or "guitar-shaped" figure is trendy, often seen on Snapchat and Instagram.
This body type is more of a "spoon shape" than an hourglass.
It is often paired with specific facial features: big lips, fox eyes, and a slim nose, reminiscent of Kylie Jenner.

The Instagram look is often not real due to alterations with filters or apps like FaceTune, which allow for resizing, smoothing, and shifting facial structures.
Cosmetic procedures have nearly doubled in the last decade, becoming safer, cheaper, and more sophisticated.
Patients are getting younger and more diverse.

Actions to look good exist on a spectrum:
- One end: Basic grooming like showering, makeup, and hair dye (considered enhancing natural beauty).
- Other end: Riskier, more painful, and permanent procedures, which are subject to moral judgments.
Beauty talk often involves moral language, including shame, blame, praise, and reward.

The Swan, a 2004 reality show, transformed "ugly ducklings" into "swans" through surgery, pitting them against each other in a pageant.
The show was popular but received negative reviews, with critics calling it ghastly and hurtful.
Contestant Cindy underwent an eyebrow lift, cheek implants, fat removal under the eyes, buccal fat removal, chin reduction, a mini facelift, breast augmentation, a tummy tuck, and liposuction on her inner thighs.
Cindy pursued the show after struggling with post-pregnancy body changes and being unable to afford cosmetic surgery.

World War I led to significant advancements in plastic surgery due to severe facial disfigurements caused by modern weaponry.
Surgeons crafted noses from rib cartilage, reformed jaws with leg bone, and filled cheeks with fat and tissue.
They also hired artists to create prosthetic masks.
Jacques Joseph, a World War I surgeon, is considered the father of aesthetic surgery.
Joseph also helped Jewish patients erase ethnic markers to be inconspicuous in a hostile society.
In the mid-1920s, many budding stars underwent facial procedures for the screen.
Comedian Fanny Brice had a nose job, and Rudolph Valentino had his ears reshaped.
In 1924, a newspaper launched a plastic surgery contest to transform the "homeliest girl in New York."

The line between routine and extreme is subjective and changes over time.
What is considered as extreme procedure depends on time taken, whether it can be done it at home, how risky and painful it is, or requires an expert. Examples include: push-up bras, braces, laser hair removal, mole removal, fat freezing, fillers, and Botox.
Botox was once considered a crazy procedure but is now common.
A point was made about gynecomastia (removal of breast tissue and fat tissue).

Cosmetic surgery is routine in some cultures, such as South Korea, where one in three women in their twenties have had procedures.
In Brazil, there is a "right to beauty" narrative.
Ivo Batanguy, the "pope of plastic surgery," operated on both the rich and the poor.
Batanguy developed techniques for tummy tucks, mini facelifts, and the Brazilian butt lift (BBL).
The BBL involves transferring fat from areas like the thigh or belly to the buttocks.

Brazil's passion for big butts has gone global, driven by figures like Kim Kardashian.
A sociologist claimed the curvy beauty ideal could be traced back to enslaved African women, leading to eugenic aesthetic experiments.
The obsession with big butts is appropriative, potentially making black women without that body type feel less attractive or less black.

The "Instagram face" is a mix of features borrowed from different ethnicities.
Slanted fox eyes and big lips have been mocked in racist caricatures but are now sought after.
The ability to pursue this body type, influenced by tech, narrows the expectation of what one should look like.
Norms such as body hair removal have become global standards.

Beauty ideals are reinforced through choices and can move the target of perfection further.
The prevalence of Victoria's Secret angels has made women boob-obsessed.
Beauty ideals are now shaped by plastic surgery, making them harder to achieve without it.

Procedures like the BBL carry risks, including fat entering the bloodstream and causing blockages.
Research on the benefits of plastic surgery is mixed, but some studies suggest it can improve quality of life.

Surgery can affirm gender identity, making life safer for transgender individuals.
Plastic surgeons aim to make people feel better, not just look better.
Surgery can increase confidence and openness to new experiences.

Plastic surgery can be both oppressive and empowering.
Ideally, people should not need to alter their bodies to be their best selves.
There is concern about influencing daughters to believe they need certain features to be pretty.
There should be more conversations about marginalized bodies and the importance of desirability.
Normalizing diverse body types, such as "old boobs" or "saggy boobs," could reduce pressure to conform to narrow ideals.