People diet for different reasons, but almost invariably improving our appearance is at the top of the list. Yes, plenty of people do it primarily for health reasons, but let’s not kid ourselves. The need to be physically accepted by our friends and those of the opposite sex is a very powerful visceral emotion.
The proof is in the pudding. Or in this case, the plastic surgery.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, there were nearly 11 million cosmetic procedures in 2006 in the U.S. – a 50 percent increase from 2000!
I’ve always thought that I was a rare breed. I’m the type of guy who vehemently prefers natural women. Ask any random guy on the street who they think is the hottest woman on the planet and I bet a large percentage of them will say Pamela Anderson. As for me, Pam hasn’t been hot since she was on Tool Time with Tim Allen – pre-surgical makeover.
Of course singling out one person as the “hottest on the planet” is silly, but that’s a different story.
I’m married, so this is a moot point, but I don’t want a Barbie Doll. What enhanced size Ds and collagen lips mean to me has nothing to do with beauty and much more to do with shallowness, and maybe more importantly, insecurity. There will always be exceptions, in that there are probably plenty of nice people who get work done. But it just skews my perspective of a person.
Not all guys prefer, or are even attracted to, surgically-enhanced bodies. So when I found this article on MSN.com, it was refreshing to see that not all guys prefer plastic. Actor Gabriel Olds (CSI, Law & Order: SVU and Six Feet Under) discusses the difficulty of preferring natural in the unnatural world of Tinseltown. He recounts his Seinfeld-esque neurosis over his dating partners’ naughty parts. I found this to be one of the more compelling quotes on plastic surgery:
“It didn’t seem like a celebration of beauty, but a scrambling attempt to fix something. To me, surgery somehow implied a lack of confidence. It was as if something purchased to say, ‘Hey, check me out,’ actually said, ‘I don’t like myself very much.’ “