How do Cosmetic Surgeries and Beauty Intertwine from a Woman’s Aspect?

Beauty is one of the most important things women look for in someone.

Whether it is beauty in another person’s body or the beauty of their own bodies, women of the world have become judgemental and have been raised to only look at the beauty aspect of the world. As a result of this 91 percent of all plastic surgery procedures were performed in women in 2011. (Mandal) Women seemed to have rushed into the new rising trend of cosmetic surgeries faster than any fad throughout time. One side of people think it is to boost self esteem, the other side thinks it is a result of being judgemental. Whatever the reason is, how do cosmetic surgeries and beauty intertwine from a woman’s aspect? How has our perspective on beauty changed over the years? Starting from the 1400’s, it has seemed that all we wanted to do is get smaller.

Though, being voluptuous was in style in the 1400’s. They were actually prized for their natural bodies, unlike now-a-days. By 1837, women were wearing corsets to make their waist as small as possible. They wanted to be smaller, but they still made certain features of their body stand out with petticoats, hoops, and bustles. By the 1920’s, women didn’t even try to look like women.

They tried to achieve the “little boy look.” They tried to have a slender figure with none of their body features standing out. This is when flapper dresses became popular. Ironically, just ten years later, women decided they wanted to show off their curves. They wanted muscular arms and legs, but still achieve the “skinny” look.

From the 1930’s to the 1950’s, this look stayed around, but by the beginning of the 1950’s the hourglass figure started becoming popular. They dressed to allure. Women had a big bust and wide hips while their waist was as tiny as they could get it. Though, by the 1960’s we were back to trying to get as thin as possible. There were two types of women during this time.

The “hippies” and the “swinging women.” Hippies didn’t really put time into their appearance and the swinging women did. Though, both were rail thin. This went on till the 1980’s. This was a time that focused on being very muscular.

They tried to appear toned, but still needed to maintain a certain weight. In just 10 years, women were back to extreme thinness. This is still going on today. Obviously women haven’t been okay with their body for many, many years, but when did cosmetic surgery actually start? Plastic surgery (another name for cosmetic surgeries) is the practice of reshaping body tissues for reconstructive or aesthetic purposes. (Beautiful Body: A History of Plastic Surgery) Ancient India is known as the birthplace of plastic surgery. Historians have found recorded accounts of reconstructive plastic surgeries in Sanskrit texts.

These describe procedures to repair noses and ears that were lost as punishments of crimes or in battle. (Beautiful Body: A History of Plastic Surgery) During the Middle Ages plastic surgery was on a downfall, but by the Renaissance, it was back on the rise. Rhinoplasties would be the beginning of the rise of plastic surgery. By 1794, plastic surgery reappeared in Europe. Still rhinoplasties were the main focus of cosmetic surgeries.

The first ever notable plastic surgeon in the United States was John Peter Mettauer of Virginia. (Beautiful Body: A History of Plastic Surgery) He primarily worked on cleft palates and hypospadias. (a birth defect of an abnormally placed urethral orifice in males) During the two world wars, plastic surgery was rising to new heights. While men were getting certain parts of their bodies blown off, the techniques and experimentation soared. Still there wasn’t a standard criteria.

Eventually, surgeons that had served in WWI established the American Association of Plastic Surgeons. WWII brought in many plastic surgery advances. They were able to rebuild entire limbs, do skin grafts, and gained an increased knowledge about tissue health. (Beautiful Body: A History of Plastic Surgery) In 1960, silicone breast implants grew popular in showgirls and women around the world. Showgirls would inject liquid silicon into their breasts to make them bigger.

Though, doing this had very serious side effects. Many had to have an amputation of the breasts due to infection and they were guaranteed “pendulous” breasts by the time they were 40. (Beautiful Body: A History of Plastic Surgery) silicone breast implants were still available to breast cancer patients through the 1990’s. Eventually, they were recalled because it was reported that the were leaking. Cosmetic surgeries have come a long way since they started, but when did cosmetic procedures actually become published? How did plastic surgery become a worldwide phenomenon? Cosmetic procedures eventually became a large part of mass media. While women, and men, rushed to get every little part of their body “fixed,” the media decided they would jump on the bandwagon and publish it.

Published plastic surgery didn’t start until the 1990’s when breast implants became really popular. The media decided to put cosmetic procedures in TV shows; Ten Years Younger, The Swan, Extreme Makeover, I Want a Famous Face, and so on. (Pentney) The Swan took an “ugly duckling” and turned the beautiful to compete in a beauty pageant. Of course, turning the women into a beautiful competitor, they used plastic surgery to change her appearance. The other shows went along with this plot. As the media began to publish the rise of modern plastic surgery, many women, and men, decided they wanted to look like them.

They wanted to change their bodies to look like the people on TV and in the magazines. According to Beth Pentney, the fear of ageing and mortality creep into the continuing barrage of products and procedures on offer. People want to look perfect and plastic surgery achieves that in a very short time. With published cosmetic procedures, how have we connected it with beauty? Beauty different in everybody’s eyes, but there is a standard that society puts on beauty. With the rise of published cosmetic procedures, we feel the need to look exactly like everyone else. We want to look like the celebrities and the “popular” people, of course, with cosmetic procedures, we can.

We connect cosmetic procedures with beauty. The things we consider beautiful on celebrities are actually the things that they have had fixed. Beauty is one of the first things we point out on someone and because of that, women have rushed to the new rising trend of cosmetic surgeries. Women seem to make a big connection to cosmetic surgeries and beauty. Published cosmetic surgeries have become a big part of the United States and women have connected to that. We may have different opinions on what beauty is, but everyone knows they can get any certain object on their body fixed so they can impress people.

This plastic surgery phenomenon has had a big impact on women all around the world. Everyone is beautiful we just need to see it for ourselves.