What happened to a slumber party and some new cd's?
According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 11,326 adolescent girls underwent breast augmentation surgery in 2004. The AASAPS recommends against such surgery, but its members, caught up in "I want breasts for my 16th birthday" greed, continue to perform it.
As shameful as it is for physicians, who have taken an oath to do no harm (why aren't their licenses being suspended?), to perform breast augmentation procedures on adolescents, what I'm trying to imagine is who are the 17,000 or so parents who have permitted this? It is enough that breast implants have been linked with an increase in several types of cancer, but beyond the physical health threat is the message: "Your body isn't good enough." And the other message: "You'll need bigger breasts to succeed."
Money that could go into a girl's college fund or to let her have a trip to Europe is spent instead on feeding her beliefs that she is unattractive, that pleasing a certain type of man is more important than anything in the world, that physical appearance is everything, and that problems are solved by treating symptoms.
What a culture.
As shameful as it is for physicians, who have taken an oath to do no harm (why aren't their licenses being suspended?), to perform breast augmentation procedures on adolescents, what I'm trying to imagine is who are the 17,000 or so parents who have permitted this? It is enough that breast implants have been linked with an increase in several types of cancer, but beyond the physical health threat is the message: "Your body isn't good enough." And the other message: "You'll need bigger breasts to succeed."
Money that could go into a girl's college fund or to let her have a trip to Europe is spent instead on feeding her beliefs that she is unattractive, that pleasing a certain type of man is more important than anything in the world, that physical appearance is everything, and that problems are solved by treating symptoms.
What a culture.
posted by Diane at 10:59 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Yep, this is a pretty sick society, alright.
I feel so bad for adolescent girls nowdays. I had it bad enough with comparing myself to the starved creatures in Elle. But these girls have it everywhere they look. And even good parenting can't totally help keep a young woman from soaking up the message that you should be anorexic with a small nose and huge tits.
Sigh...
By
Unknown, at
2:15 PM
That's true. One thing that I think helps is for a girl to see her mother be satisfied with her own body. And both parents need to shut up about girls' eating habits and weight gain.
I thought the casting of Patricia Arquette in "Medium" was a breath of fresh air because Arquette has the body of a real woman. I hope we see more of that sort of thing.
By
Diane, at
10:06 PM
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