Sins

[heyejanli]

A woman in this society is judged largely on her appearance and how willing she is to conform to a lot of external expectations for behavior, dress, demeanor, roles, and a bunch of other things.  There are many sins a woman can commit that open her up to an excessive amount of criticism from others, both men and women, either to her face or behind

Comments

[nachtrabe]

The fundamental question is why you want it.

A friend of mine recently put forth the question of whether she should get a breast enhancement. The reason was not because of self-image, however, it was because she had been told that it would help her career (she is a model and anchor). While there is a question of whether she wants to go through something that invasive and irreversible for her career is an open question, it frames the discussion very differently from getting a breast enhancement for self-image reasons (or even self-image reasons by proxy of a boyfriend or other such individual).

All such decisions need to be weighed vs. the severity of the procedure. Straightening teeth has health benefits beyond having straight teeth, and things like hair removal are fairly benign compared to surgery.

The question of why is very important in this, because there is a world of difference between "I don't like myself" and "I don't really care and am happy with myself, but it would help my profession" with a lot of degrees in

[heyejanli]

Agreed. You're absolutely right that the fundamental question is "why" - thank you for framing it so concisely and eloquently. Phrasing the question properly was something I was trying hard to chip away at, but you just kind of nailed it. Way to grok, ese.

[firebeexlt]

Actually, I wonder whether people are harsh judges of others' flaws. Sometimes they are -- or at least moderately so; pretty much a holiday doesn't pass when I don't get some sort of caution from my mother that if I'm not careful I'll look like one of THOSE women, or that very few people can get by without makeup and I'm not one of them, or... whatever. But my impression has been that the range of acceptability for the physical bodies of other people (not self and not child) is pretty broad -- most of the harsh judgments seem to be for extreme situations or for class markers in dress, etc. On the other hand, there is the odd worrying study

[radiantsun]

This makes me want to see your nose so I can judge for myself . . .
That being said . . . I've known some women that I consider to be attractive even though it could be said that they have big noses. I think noses that aren't cookie cutter can make a person more interesting to look at. The uniting them these women had was they were always smiling genuinly and warmly a lot.

That being said, I wouldn't hold it against anyone to get a nose job, unless it's more related to body dismorphia . . .

So, if you get one, are you still going to hate your nose? Or find something new to pick on?

[heyejanli]

I'm leaning most in favor of NOT getting plastic surgery. It seems like admitting personal defeat in some way. Plus, I'm used to my nose. It has character. I take pride in my Jew bump even if my mom doesn't.

http://pics.livejournal.com/heyejanli/pic/00005a66/g3 might give you a clearer picture of what I'm talking about.