You look in the mirror and immediately begin to pick out your flaws. You wish that stubborn acne would go away, that your nose was not so pointy or that you had more curves. You wish you could change those features that you do not like, even though other people may see your flaws as something beautiful.
According to the National Report on Self Esteem, 98 percent of adolescent girls feel pressure to look a certain way. Adolescents sometimes overcome their insecurities by getting plastic surgery.
Senior Mariah Perez recently got rhinoplasty, a plastic surgery procedure that alters a patient’s nose.
“Ever since I was in middle school, since maybe sixth, seventh grade, I always found that my nose was [proportionally] bigger than my face,” Perez said. “[People] kind of bullied me about it, so that really got to me. I had told [my parents] four years ago that I wanted the surgery, and they just wanted to wait until I got older to go for it.”
Perez discussed some of the details from her procedure.
“I went into the place, and they put me on anesthesia right away, and I fell asleep in a good 15 seconds; I don’t remember a thing until I got home; honestly, I did not feel any pain,” Perez said. “They gave me narcotics to take if I did feel any pain, but I didn’t have to take them at all. The only thing was I couldn’t really breathe at first.”
Dance teacher Kristen Oakes feels that everyone has the right to do what they please to their body.
“I think that everyone has the right to do whatever they want to their body; however, I feel most plastic surgeries are unnecessary, and it stems from an insecurity that someone has about themselves, and most people may not even notice it,” Oakes said.
Junior Dashawn Matthews agrees with Oakes’ standpoint on plastic surgery, saying the desire for plastic surgery originates from one’s insecurities.
“All the insecurities that they have, like people telling them they’re fat or that they need to have this done; they are basically listening to people judge them,” Matthews said.
Many people agree that others should have the choice to undergo plastic surgery.
“I think that if someone wants to get plastic surgery, then they should be able to no matter what the reason, because it’s their choice, even if it is because of internalized misogyny,” senior Piper Puckett said.
There are those who want plastic surgery because of stereotypes and sexist messages women are taught by society and media. However, there are others who want the procedure simply to fix something they would like to change about themselves, not because of bullying or body image issues.
“I hate my lips, because I think they are so thin, and when I smile, my top lip just doesn’t exist anymore, so I have considered getting lip injections, because I want bigger lips,” Puckett said. “It’s not for any reason other than I would just like my lips to be bigger. I don’t know if I’m going to go through with that or not, of course, because I want to look a certain way, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
Oakes thinks body image is a conflict that many young adults are faced with.
“Teaching mostly girls, body image is something that I think females struggle with always, because someone’s always got something to say; you’re too fat, you’re too skinny, you’re too tall, you’re too short,” Oakes said. “My advice is to ignore what other people say, because you are the way you are for a reason; you are born with these flaws.”
Social media and the Internet give people, especially adolescents, the opportunity to be exposed to celebrities endorsing beauty products and what Hollywood considers the ideal body image. According to PR Newswire, about a quarter of 15-17 young girls would consider plastic surgery.
“What we had connections to [online and with social media] versus what you all are exposed to now is completely different,” Oakes said. “They also didn’t have so much Photoshop, and airbrushing and contouring wasn’t like this huge thing.”
TV shows and movies hire actors and actresses who are in their mid 20s to play the role of teenagers. Puckett thinks this gives adolescents a false idea of how they should look.
Young adults are constantly surrounded by what society considers beautiful, and adolescents face a great deal of backlash from other people on social media for not having the ideal body. According to Internet Safety 101, 95 percent of teenagers who use social media have witnessed cruel behavior towards other teens based on appearance.
“I don’t the like the system as a whole, because it is the system that tells young girls that they must cater to the male gaze, and they must care about their appearance,” Puckett said. “It is that same system that then turns around and says, why are 14 year olds wearing short shorts? Why are 14 year olds caking their face in makeup? It is a vicious cycle, and it is purposeful, and I hate it.”
Senior Jack Maynard believes that men also have pressure to look a certain way.
“I definitely think it does in some ways, but not
nearly as many pressures as it puts on young women,” Maynard said. “There’s a stigma, an idea that you have to look a certain way and look manly and be manly. If men were to wear something remotely feminine, it is usually frowned upon.”
Matthews speaks about confidence and how you should not alter yourself but instead learn to love who you are.
“I do not think that [plastic surgery] provides confidence at all, because you don’t need plastic surgery for you to think that you’re cute,” Matthews said. “You can tell yourself when you look in the mirror, ‘Today I’m cute,’ and find your confidence.”
Oakes expresses how she feels about self love.
“I feel like you need to learn to love yourself for who you are,” Oakes said. “I would hope, especially at a young age, everyone can learn that you can love yourself for the way you are. Plastic surgery is a quick fix, and it’s a dangerous and slippery slope; the minute you fix one thing, then all of sudden there’s another thing you want to fix, and then there’s another and another, so it can quickly decline.”
– By Tory Scott