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EXTREME MAKEOVER
At the weekend my girlfriend presented me with a cardboard tube containing a large-print photo of myself taken in 1991 in London by a photographer called Nigel.
The picture had become damaged over the years and Tracie had, unbeknownst to me, whisked it off to a photographic shop to have it repaired, scanned electronically and touched up.
I hadn’t seen it in years but when I inserted the disc into my PC and saw the soft-focus black and white image of myself perched on a sofa in ‘old Hollywood’ style (that was the remit I gave to Nigel), I felt not only a pang of nostalgia but a keen urge to share it with friends I thought would appreciate this thing of beauty. Basically I’d forgotten how gorgeous I used to be ... or perhaps I simply didn’t realise it at the time.
Now, I know how thoroughly vain that must sound but I am heading somewhere – honestly. Towards plastic surgery, actually. Or at least the discussion of. Last week the media reported that Queensland is to outlaw cosmetic surgery on anyone under the age of 18 in a bid to stop the swarm of teenage girls getting new tits for their birthday (they can still have surgery to correct deformities or to help their psychological wellbeing).
The trend for surgical alteration, regardless of age, is all part of what Dr Meredith Jones calls Australia’s ‘makeover culture’ in her new book Skintight: An Anatomy of Cosmetic Surgery. “It’s only a matter of time until we put ‘work done’ into the same category as having our teeth bleached or capped,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald last week.
Some feminists will no doubt argue that encouraging young women to go under the knife to make themselves prettier instead of trying to boost their self-esteem through less invasive methods is nothing short of cultural misogyny.
They may be right, although more and more men are succumbing to the pressure to look younger/better too. But on the other hand, if you can afford a new nose or pair of knockers to get you through those angst-filled teen years, then shouldn’t you be allowed the choice? Sure it’s risky, but so is getting into a car.
Anaesthesia can compromise the immune system and have a detrimental effect on a person’s long-term health – but so can all the chemicals and additives in our food. Do we have a duty to stop teenagers rushing into surgery to change their bodies and faces when, years later, they may – like me – come to realise they were beautiful after all but just couldn’t see it?
It’s a difficult one. Banning teenagers from doing anything rarely works (drink, drugs, sex anyone?). There are no easy answers but I proffer two certainties in the matter: every woman has the right to look as stunning as I did in 1991, and that George Bernard Shaw had it right when he said, “Youth is wasted on the young”.
Katrina Fox
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