Plastic
and Cosmetic Surgery
A
man sues his wife for having “ugly children.” Who calls their own kids ugly?
Imagine, also, being that child and having to live the life of being known as
“an ugly child.” In China, just last year, a man named Jian Feng sued his wife
thinking that she was having an affair with someone else because, in his words,
their kids were “horrifically ugly” (Nelson) and he also mentions that “Our
daughter was incredibly ugly, to the point where it horrified me” (Man Sues
Wife…) because I guess apparently two good looking people — himself and his
wife — cannot make “ugly babies”. After
doing so, she finally came out clean and admitting that she had plastic surgery
done. She said that she had spent about a total of £60,000 on surgery before
they got married. Her husband than later won the case and along with it, he
also won a total of £75,000 (Nelson). The fact that she was able to get away
with it and get away with marring someone who doesn’t really know how she
really is or looks like, proves how powerful cosmetic surgery can be and how
much of a difference cosmetic surgery can make you look.
Plastic surgery is “The
process of reconstructing or repairing parts of the body, especially by the
transfer of tissue, either in the treatment of injury or for cosmetic reasons”
and cosmetic surgery is “plastic surgery for improving a person’s
appearance by restoration of damaged areas of skin, removal of wrinkles or
blemishes, etc.” Both of these types of surgeries are done for a purpose of
beauty (Negrin, 21).
The
world of plastic surgery is said to help women with their self-esteem and, of
course, primarily their physical appearance. It also helps them enhance their
sense of power. Plastic surgeries are done all over the country. Though it is
not cheap, people are still willing to pay for it because it the “easy way” out
(Negrin, 21).
China,
in particular, is a country that does these types of surgeries. The most
popular type of surgery that is done is the operation of adding an extra fold
to the eyelid. Other kinds of popular surgeries are also nose-lengthening, jaw
reshaping, and breast enlargements. China’s plastic surgeries are done “to
bring women closer to western ideals of beauty.” Though these are only some,
one would say that the most dramatic and agonizing operation is the
leg-lengthening operation (Watts, 958).
The
leg-lengthening operation involves breaking the leg and then stretching it over
several months using an external cage. Through this operation, it also contains
three stages. In the first stage it consists of breaking the leg and pushing a
steel pen into the tibiae. Next, the second stage is when the stretching is
taken place. This stretching process takes several months. The stretching is
done by turning the screw of the cage each day, and then once the stretching is
done, the cage is then taken off. In the last stage, stage three, the pins are
left in place for about a year for support for the bones to regenerate. Then
once generated, it is then removed. If surgery is not done correctly, and the bones
are stretched too rapidly, the bone would not have had enough time to have
grown strong enough to support the body’s weight. Also, if legs are stretched
at different speeds, the legs could become misshaped and nerves could be
damaged (Watts, 958).
In
China, height has been socially important. Even on job advertisements, it is
often listed as one of the criteria. In most cases, the more of a glamorous
position that you want, the tougher the criteria would be. And so surgery is
done to help one find a job and a marriage partner. Despite the risks involved,
it seems though that there is an increase in demand for cosmetic procedure
(Watts, 958).
In
Thailand, people come all over the world to get surgery there because it is
cheaper there. In Thailand, “health and beauty are everywhere conjoined: on
Skytrain station billboards advertising the latest lines of designer whitening
creams and on the facades of the many hospitals and clinics advertising laser
teeth whitening, facelifts, cosmetic surgeries and rejuvenation therapies” (Aizura,
304). The culture of Thailand indicates skin bleaching, double eyelid fold
surgery and nose-surgery, teeth whitening, and so on. These operations give its
country a sense of beauty, success, modernity and progress with whiteness. One
of the very common surgery that tourist come for was the gender reassignment
surgery. Another type of surgery that is very popular in Thailand, as well as
China, is once again the eyelid surgery. This surgery is done to help one
appear “whiter,” the western ideal of beauty. It is used to create a “more
natural-looking double eyelid, to look more awake or to make eye make-up
application easier”. As for having pale skin, it is considered beautiful. It
also has to do with your social class meaning that if you had pale skin, it was
most likely that you were rich that you were protected from work in the sun
like farming (Aizura, 306).
In
South Korea, plastic surgery is a pretty big deal as to where parents are
encouraging and making their children get some kind of surgery done. In an
interview with a woman in Seoul, the woman said that her “mom kept saying,
‘It's not that big of a deal…’” and went on saying that her mom also wanted her
to get a nose transformation and to get it done before she heads off to
college. She also then states that in the society of South Korea, people
believe that the prettier you are, the more benefits you get and the better
benefits you get. And so because of situations like this, it causes people to
want surgery more because they will think that they aren’t good looking enough
or that because they have to live to want society wants. In this case society
wants beautiful people and so they are willing to give better benefits (Standen).
In
South Korea, the most common and popular surgeries are yet again the eyelid
surgeries and nose jobs. Other common ones also include liposuction and breast
amplifications. Most of these surgeries are done for women. As for men, they typically
go for a ‘softer’ look. They want a look that is mimicking the look of
“boy-heroes” in Korean and Japanese cartoons. This meant that they want a less
angular jaw shape, eyes with double eyelids and a projecting nose tip and as
for the body, they want “bicep muscles to give their bodies ‘definition’” in
trying to create “a muscular but smooth (hairless) body with boyish facial
features. This shows that men, just as well as women get surgeries too (Holliday,
53).
They
ways of surgery is changing every year. There are new ways of surgery and new
ways of doing other stuff rather than surgery like creams or serums. No one is
perfect and not everybody like the way that they look. Again, though surgery is
not cheap, people are still willing to pay a good amount of money for surgery
because it is like the “easy way” out. Its demand is also growing every day
because of new technologies and because of that, it is also becoming cheaper.
One day the world may just be that everyone has gotten surgery done and that
there is no one person who has not had it done because it has become the norm
and being normal is just what everyone want to be.
Bibliography
Aizura Aren Z. “Where Health And Beauty Meet: Femininity
And Racialisation In Thai Cosmetic Surgery Clinics.” Asian Studies Review 33.3 (2009): 303-317. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
Watts, Johnathan. “China’s Cosmetic Surgery Craze.” Lancet 363.9413 (2004): 958.Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Dec.
2013.
Negrin, Llewellyn. “Cosmetic Surgery And The Eclipse Of
Identity.” Body & Society 8.4 (2002): 21. Academic Sear Premier. Web. 2 Dec.
2013.
Nelson, Sara C. "Man Who Sued Wife Over 'Ugly Baby'
Yarn Is Probably A Hoax (PICTURE)." The Huffington Post UK.
Huffingtonpost, 11 Aug. 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.
"Man Sues Wife over Ugly Kids and Wins." Chicagonow.
Chicagonow, 6 Nov. 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
Standen, Camille. "South Korean Parents Are Making
Their Kids Get Plastic Surgery." VICE. N.p., 14 May 2013. Web. 03
Dec. 2013.
Holliday,
Ruth, and Joanna Elfving-Hwang. "Gender, Globalization And Aesthetic
Surgery In South Korea." Body & Society 18.2 (2012): 58-81. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
The first part shocked me about the men winning the case for having ugly children because his wife had plastic surgery. Its just crazy to see how far people get with such a horrible subject of calling your own children ugly.
ReplyDeleteWomen will do anything to be "perfect" even if they are endangering their own life. The Leg-lengthening sounds so painful in my opinion I would be okay being short and not go through all that just to be inches taller. I've also never heard such thing about this type of surgery I didn't even know one could get taller but the consequences sound horryfing. It was great reading the different types of surgeries women in Asia do to reach perfection.
The man in this article seems to equate women as factories where women are dispensed. He came to be unhappy with the final product that his sexualized and romanticized machine configured. This man has commodified the women and reduced her reality into that of a single reproductive being. There is also a problem with the way that he interprets ugly as disposable. His children are not precious to him, he does not care for their feelings, nor their future. He doesn't even see them as valuable or see them as positive financial investments, as some others might have. Not only does he operate under the superficial, patriarchal, and body policing society, he also just seems to be a sociopath with a complete disregard to common decency. His emotional neglect seems to be stemmed from both extreme internal and external insecurities as well as weird sociopathic tendencies.
ReplyDeleteI was absolutely horrified to read about the process of leg-lengthening. What a horribly painful and prolonged process. I think that the beauty standards and ideals are super interesting in terms of people from Asia wanting to have physical characteristics of Westernized beauty. I remember reading for class about the fact that in Thailand because plastic surgery is cheaper that a lot of people actually travel there to get work done. I was also intrigued and disgusted by the fact that a man can sue his wife for having ugly children. I think it would be very interesting to look into what the beauty ideals are in terms of children, because I am curious if the children really were ugly or if that is a social construction, which I am guessing it was.
ReplyDeleteThis blog actually taught and shocked me a lot! It's surprising how many different surgeries there are to help people feel better about themselves. Like the leg-lengthening, I never even knew was possible and I could only imagine what that would feel like. But the fact that children getting surgery done is actually encourgaed is really shocking because it's like they are still young and have years to grow, who knows what could change within that time. But also, it is implying that your child is not good enough, which nobody should ever let their child feel. Also the fact the man could have the authority to sue his wife for having ugly children is crazy, I mean they both contributed to the job it is not only her fault. But overall this blog was really good and I loved it, it taught me a lot. I think you did an awesome job on informing us about the cosmestic and plastic surgeries.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic, I enjoyed learning and gaining more knowledge on how this plastic surgery world works. Reading this blog reminded me of the host of the talk show. I believe we discussed it in class, where she had to get her eyelid done in order to work and be on tv. I also know that the leg lenghthening is very prevelent in Russia. I saw a documentary a while ago explaining that, to be considered "beautiful" in the Russian society a girl needs to be 5'9 and above. So shorter women were getting the leg lenghtening surgery.
ReplyDeleteThis blog doesn't shock me in many ways but it did make me realize other part to it. Korean pop is my EVERYTHING! :) I grew up listening to it and accepted it as just a culture that they do but it hurts me to see that my Korean celebrity undergo plastic surgery for reasons of looking and getting the media attention. In some entertainments (music groups) that I know of, it is required to look good. So some directors would have them undergo surgery. One of my favorite Korean movie called 200 pound beauty shows a way of it. In this movie, a bigger size woman sings behind stage as a more petite woman sings and dances on stage. I’ve grown use to the industry of plastic surgery cause I know family members that had traveled to Thailand just to get it done. Sometimes, I wonder why women do this, is it for beauty? Is it for them to have confident? Or is it for the society, do it because OTHER gals are doing it for the society.
ReplyDelete