It’s not difficult to find a beauty ad. In fact, they are usually hard to avoid. Virtually every form of the media batters into people how we are supposed to look and what to do to achieve such physical perfection. Women in particular are held to ludicrous standards that are especially hard to achieve if you wish to maintain a healthy balanced lifestyle. Unless you have abundant time and money you may never look like Angelina Jolie, Gisele Bundchen, or Marissa Miller and yet we are all compared to models like them multiple times a day. With improving technology, women are going to greater extremes to become gain a stereotypically beautiful physique. In the past some television shows have highlighted these disturbing trends. Thankfully shows like the Swan and Extreme Makeover were short-lived after cries of disgust from certain audiences. It would appear however, that the E! network has not learned from such mistakes. A new show called, “Bridal Plasty” about future brides competing for cosmetic surgery is set to premiere this fall. This show is a reflection of our societal obsession with beauty; it reinforces the belief that women’s bodies are somehow inherently flawed and to be happy, women must change their physical appearance to achieve stereotypical perfection.
On the show, contestants compete in wedding themed games for the chance to win a surgical procedure. The last woman remaining after eliminations each week will win the rest of her desired procedures and her dream wedding. In a dramatic twist, the bride is not scheduled to reveal her new body until the day of her wedding. This show mirrors the belief in our society that women’s bodies are imperfect and need to be corrected for happiness. Because physical perfection is understood to represent complete perfection, women are going to ever more dangerous extremes in their beauty regimes. Pressures are causing younger women to start beauty regimes earlier, investing more time and money into the process. The beauty industry revolves around this notion and capitalizes on insecurity to profit. “Reared on reality TV and celebrity makeovers, girls as young as Marleigh [2 years old] are using beauty products earlier, spending more and still feeling worse about themselves.” Equating emotional or social characteristics with physical features creates dangerous mandates for women to correct their bodies. Women must remind themselves that the media and beauty industries are ultimately out to make money; they are corporations and therefore their bottom line is the profit margin. “According to a NEWSWEEK examination of the most common beauty trends, by the time your 10-year-old is 50, she'll have spent nearly $300,000 on just her hair and face.”
Beyond wasting money to meet these standards, women are also depleting their self-esteem. By comparing oneself incessantly to models, women and girls lose their sense of worth and become emotionally desperate for improvement. The number one cosmetic procedure is now breast implants. The procedure is serious and poses a number of health hazards- it is also completely unnecessary. The new growing trend depicted in Bridal Plasty is to get plastic surgery before your wedding to have “perfect” wedding. One British article claims this trend is due to women’s desires to be ever sexier, “Ten years ago you could not use the word "sexy" in the same sentence as "bride" - it was not considered appropriate - but now most brides want to show off their figure.”They feel that the only way to be sexy is to change their bodies. Disturbingly, I found one plastic surgeon that actually has created a timeline on his website of what procedures to get and how soon before the wedding. It is alarming how long the list is and curious that the costs are not included on the chart. Also interesting, is that this plastic surgeon has posted links to bridal shops and salons to assist the women in their transformations. What is most troubling is that these women on the show are all brides to be. They are clearly loved and yet they somehow still feel inadequate. I’m sure their fiancés love their bodies just as they are or they would not have proposed; it is sad that the women cannot also love themselves. Changing your body to the point of being unrecognizable is not a good idea right before you enter a holy matrimony. The strength of these relationships was built on a certain dynamic, and such a dynamic will inevitably change after the bride undergoes a total transformation. It is dangerous to assume you will have a stronger marriage just because you will be a stereotypically prettier bride.
Furthermore, many plastic surgeons disagree with rewarding women with plastic surgery and question the ethics of the doctors willing to do the procedures: “It totally undermines the doctor-patient relationship," says Dr. Gayle Gordillo, associate professor plastic surgery at Ohio State University. "The ethical and social implications of this [show] are frightening." The article continues on to explore the probability of Body Dysmorphic Disorder within the patients. Multiple and repetitive cosmetic surgeries can be signs pointing to this disorder in which patients imagine physical flaws obsessively. They incessantly choose to have such “flaws” perfected and yet are never happy with the result; they continue to find problems with their physiques. It is a manifestation of one’s desire to achieve perfection and may result from low self-esteem. Doctors willing to operate on such patients only play into the disorder allowing it to spiral out of control. Plastic surgeons need to act ethically and the cycle.
I was shocked to learn that on a website dedicated to Body Dysmorphic Disorder the entire page is loaded with links to plastic surgeon websites and at the top there is even an ad for Botox. Treatment for BDD involves antidepressants as well as behavioral therapy to help end such obsessive thoughts about appearance. It is suggested that patients stop checking their defects and stop getting procedures to correct them: “While it may seem that a procedure to "fix" your perceived flaw is a good option, cosmetic surgery, dentistry or other approaches usually don't relieve the stress and shame of body dysmorphic disorder...Cosmetic procedures don't treat your underlying condition — they are only temporary fixes, at best.” Undergoing dangerous surgeries and disorders like BDD demonstrate how our flawed belief system is actually causing damage to our health. Shows, like Bridal Plasty that highlight the perceived benefits to such extreme measures are ignoring the undermining issue of low self esteem.
Overall, the show Bridal Plasty is troubling for the dangerous precedents it sets for women. Women are now expected to go under the knife to look absolutely perfect for their wedding day. However, in a world that bombards us with images of beauty, advertisements for miraculous results, and procedures you can get at the dentist, this may not be surprising; the bar is constantly being raised and women will go to more extreme measures to meet the ridiculous standards. The show is a social commentary on or societal obsession with appearance. It seems counterintuitive to change oneself on the very day that a husband pledges his complete love for the bride just as she is, “for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part” but I guess the vows don’t include a wrinkles clause.
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