Seeking Beauty At All Costs
I was heartbroken today to hear of a young woman who had tried to get a tattoo removed by laser and had her skin literally burned off by the technician who failed to use the laser correctly. (http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2007/09/21/hunter.botched.laser.cnn)
In a quest for physical perfection, individuals are going to extraordinary lengths to fix their "flaws".
For the last three weeks, my students have been exploring Puritanism. It has been hard for many of them to understand some of their daily practices and beliefs because they differ so greatly from our own. I cannot seem to impress upon them the reality that what is "normal" today, may not be tomorrow.
Think about it.
A hundred years ago, the worst thing a woman could be was tan and thin. To be so meant that you were not a lady of leisure, but had to work in the fields. If you were to look at artistic renditions of working women in this time period, you would see women literally covered from head to toe. Tan lines or a sunburn, however light, was a sure giveaway. Being thin meant you had no money for the things in life that would fatten you up: cakes, candies, etc. The ideal woman at the turn of the century had a quest for perfection that was completely different than ours.
It makes me wonder how society a hundred years from now will look back on women's vanity today. What will they know (that we couldn't possibly) about injecting poison into your facial muscles to relax wrinkles? What will archeologists say in the future when they stumble upon cemeteries where the bones are surrounded by non-biodegradable implants? Will they even know what they are and what they were used for? Or will they misunderstand their purpose based on how they are found in relation to the skeleton and assume they were a type of offering or sacrifice?
How to let future generations that there was a sacrifice, and many people pay it daily through starvation, excessive exercise, plastic surgery, liposuction, Botox and body art removal.
I have never understood the fascination with tattoos and am perplexed with the shift that occurs over time in the minds of the tatoo recipients. How is getting the tatoo removed any better than living with something you knew was permanent when you got it?
My heart goes out to the woman in the news today. No one deserves the amount of excruciating physical and emotional pain she has had to endure at the hands of someone completely ill-prepared.
Let her story be a cautionary tale to us all. Everything we do to our bodies has consequence. Period. When we try to fix our flaws, we put our lives in the hands of others who may or may not have our best interests at heart.
One day, I hope each of us realizes we are beautiful the way we are, regardless of what others may think. Until then, I know each of us continues to sacrifice.
May it be one we can afford.
In a quest for physical perfection, individuals are going to extraordinary lengths to fix their "flaws".
For the last three weeks, my students have been exploring Puritanism. It has been hard for many of them to understand some of their daily practices and beliefs because they differ so greatly from our own. I cannot seem to impress upon them the reality that what is "normal" today, may not be tomorrow.
Think about it.
A hundred years ago, the worst thing a woman could be was tan and thin. To be so meant that you were not a lady of leisure, but had to work in the fields. If you were to look at artistic renditions of working women in this time period, you would see women literally covered from head to toe. Tan lines or a sunburn, however light, was a sure giveaway. Being thin meant you had no money for the things in life that would fatten you up: cakes, candies, etc. The ideal woman at the turn of the century had a quest for perfection that was completely different than ours.
It makes me wonder how society a hundred years from now will look back on women's vanity today. What will they know (that we couldn't possibly) about injecting poison into your facial muscles to relax wrinkles? What will archeologists say in the future when they stumble upon cemeteries where the bones are surrounded by non-biodegradable implants? Will they even know what they are and what they were used for? Or will they misunderstand their purpose based on how they are found in relation to the skeleton and assume they were a type of offering or sacrifice?
How to let future generations that there was a sacrifice, and many people pay it daily through starvation, excessive exercise, plastic surgery, liposuction, Botox and body art removal.
I have never understood the fascination with tattoos and am perplexed with the shift that occurs over time in the minds of the tatoo recipients. How is getting the tatoo removed any better than living with something you knew was permanent when you got it?
My heart goes out to the woman in the news today. No one deserves the amount of excruciating physical and emotional pain she has had to endure at the hands of someone completely ill-prepared.
Let her story be a cautionary tale to us all. Everything we do to our bodies has consequence. Period. When we try to fix our flaws, we put our lives in the hands of others who may or may not have our best interests at heart.
One day, I hope each of us realizes we are beautiful the way we are, regardless of what others may think. Until then, I know each of us continues to sacrifice.
May it be one we can afford.