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A little while back I wrote a post about insane cosmetic surgery procedures and how people seem obsessed with defying nature. While I was doing my research to make sure that none of the procedures I had mentioned were hoaxes, I saw a lot of comments regarding how people feel about cosmetic surgery. Some of the comments really got me thinking.
A lot of people are against plastic surgery that’s done for purely aesthetic reasons, and I agree with them. Some people are totally for cosmetic procedures and think trying to look like something you’re not is just fine. What really caught my interest were the comments regarding how people felt about body modification. It was actually quite strange to see what I did.
Apparently a lot of people who believe that getting cosmetic surgery to try to look like some unattainable media standard is just fine, but they shun people who get body modifications. They think it’s okay to try to look like a clone of everyone else, but not to do things that make you unique. Just as an example, I was looking at a piece about various surgeries like knee lifts and toe tucks, which people seemed to think were just fine. The article also mentioned ear pointing and getting permanent fangs. People in the comments were totally trashing anyone who’d go for those more unique procedures.
Honestly, if you’re going to get surgery to change how you look, I’d be much more supportive of someone getting elf ears or fangs or sub-dermal piercings than someone getting Botox or butt implants. At least people getting body modifications are trying to be unique and express their individuality instead of trying to look like a bad knockoff of someone else.
It was really odd to me that people would support one kind of surgery and not another, but it shouldn’t have surprised me. We live in a society where we’re taught to conform and do what the media tells us. Having yourself nipped and tucked and altered to look like someone else seems normal while expressing individuality seems wrong. It’s messed up, but that’s the way people think.
For the most part I do think people should leave their bodies alone, but as I said, I’d be more inclined to support someone doing something that makes them an individual. I think too many people get altered to be something they’re not. In the traditional plastic surgery world that’s the norm, people trying to look like someone else and fit media standards. In the modding community a lot of people do it for shock value rather than true personal expression, and that’s not good either.
No matter how you look at it, in my opinion it all boils down to why you’re changing your body. If you’re doing it solely for yourself and not to shock or impress someone else, then it may be okay to do it. If you’re doing it just so you can be more odd or more conforming, then you probably need to give it a lot more thought before proceeding. The most important thing is being your true self and loving that self.
