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Beauty, body-image, celebrities, Eyes, Fashion, Funny, influence, make up, Makeover, Plastic surgery, role models, self esteem
The internet is amazing, a shark attack video appeared in my facebook timeline, I watched it and kept following other video links until I ended up at the two videos below which are about plastic surgery and makeup.
Anyway I thought I would share these videos with you because I think a debate is order. I want you to comment with your reactions to these videos because they both had quite an affect on me and I think they will on you too. The first video shows evidence of celebrity plastic surgery (some of the comparisons don’t scream surgery to me but others definately do.) With all of these beautifully altered celebrities in the media it is no wonder women feel such pressure to look good. No wonder we can’t be happy with the size of our noses, width of our foreheads, fullness of our lips etc. Next time you are having an ‘ugly’ day (do you get these too? maybe it’s just me that has days where nothing looks right and I become convinced the mirror is conspiring against me)I want you to think about these videos and realise you look normal! you probably look quite good! It can just be hard to remember that when you compare yourself to people who have spent buckets of money to drastically alter the way they look or have applied makeup in such a way that they no longer look anything like themselves.
Watch the video below from 3 mins 42 secs to see how 2 girls have transformed themselves so that they no longer look like the same girl. I don’t know where I stand on this one. I use makeup but I think maybe a line should be drawn between enhancing what you have naturally and making yourself unrecognisable, I mean if you meet someone looking a ceratin way with makeup, what will happen when you look like a completely different person to them without make-up? Or maybe it doesn’t matter at all? I have to say that I do admire what these girls have achieved with makeup.
So come on guys give me your thoughts on this. What do you think about altering your image in the same way as the videos show? Are these alterations affecting your own self-esteem? How do you feel about friends who go out completely altered, are you fine with it? Does it make you feel less pretty? Is it just a matter of how comfortable you are in your own skin and not caring about what other people do to themselves? Or does it make you feel pressured to follow suit and enhance your own look? Let’s get the debate started, leave a comment!
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My personal feelings about plastic surgery is that it shouldn’t be done, for the most part, though the technology should be there for those who need it (survivors of various accidents, for example). I do think our society makes it acceptable to spend thousands of dollars to do it though; because we talk about all these beautiful female celebrities and their ‘perfection’, girls start to realise that the only way to achieve that perfection is by plastic surgery, and that’s a really sad thing. Obviously it is each person’s choice to do what they want, but it is within this framework that we make our choices.
I’ve seen similar videos to the second before and it is quite amazing what makeup can do to the face. The Youtuber Promise Phan (famous Michelle Phan’s sister) shows that very very often in her transformation videos! I was linked to this article by the author who read my post on makeup and I think it’d be better for me to just post it here (https://ramblingsofanangrylion.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/does-makeup-make-me-less-feminist/).
Basically I don’t think people freely choose to wear makeup. The choice is within the framework of a society that expects women to take on certain daily rituals to beautify themselves, or else they won’t be fully accepted by society. We all want to be accepted, so most of us choose makeup. Doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it (I do), but the choice isn’t fully our own.
I’m with you on it being each persons choice whether or not to have plastic surgery but that they should realise that society is probably playing a massive role in their decision. I believe so many insecurities stem directly from social pressure a pressure that is so powerful that people often don’t realise that is what is motivating them. Appreciate you stopping by, for anyone else reading I would recommend checking out angrylittlelion’s link, she makes some good points.
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I would like to point one more thing. This is with respect to the second video. The whole beauty industry is based on the fact that people want to look better than they already do. They either want to enhance their best features or hide their flaws. While its true that at the end of the day its your personality that matters, but its an established fact that presentation and first impressions do count. People unconsciously do tend to judge a book by its cover.
Applying make up is an art by itself so what those girls achieved, I think its amazing. And its pain free and not permanent. So why not?
Applying make-up is an art and those girls definately achieved something incredible with it. What interests me is, in a society where the girls type of eyes/eyelids is the norm, why do they feel need to conform to a more westernised ideal of beauty? x
I don’t think all of them do. These are just the few. And it all depends on a persons perception. Whats beautiful to me might not be beautiful to you. I think any with a great personality is naturally beautiful, but its not the same for other people. And the grass is always seems greener on the other side. We always strive to achieve what we don’t have. Not just beauty but just about anything else. We work hard to develop our mind, we work out to keep our body healthy, we practice so we get better at something, so why not put in a little effort to look good? Its not very hard to do so why not? True in a lot of cases it does have to do with society, but i think most of our insecurities stem from within. We always wish we looked as we did when we were younger – the time we had no blemishes, the times we dint have to deal with acne and black heads, the time we dint have to deal with wrinkles and looking tired. A lot of times its not wishing to look like a model we saw on TV or a magazine but a wish to look like how we used to. True the teenagers today are under a lot of peer pressure to look good. I think we as humans, especially females, are at a very early age conditioned to look for a life partner. Like in the animal kingdom how they flaunt who has better genes, trying to look good/healthy is a way of signaling to the opposite sex that we have healthy genes. It to an extent is inbuilt in us. So people just go to greater lengths than others. In the case of the teenagers, they are at a stage where they are just discovering the opposite sex. So they tend to be more insecure about their bodies and they looks. A lot of them outgrow that phase as they mature. But i really don’t think its a compulsion to wear make up and not everyone does.
Sorry if it wasn’t clear but I was only refering to the girls in the video and why they wanted to do that to their eyes, not making a general assumption. I like what you said about how insecurities may develop with age and wanting to look how you used to, definately something for us all to think about. On the flip side however people tend to become more secure as they age too. I guess only the individual can say for certain what has motivated them to wear make-up or get surgery, there are obviously so many reasons I haven’t considered, like what you said about wanting eyeliner because you want to make sure people look you in the eye (in a previous comment). This is why I like getting these discussions started, plus I think it is healthy to reflect critically on what motivates us to do the things we do x
i believe in being yourself and true to your features and natural beauty. Every woman has it’s own individual beauty that can be enhanced with the right style of clothing/makeup/accessories/hairstyle. The possibilities are endless really..said that I believe in aging naturally like the beautiful Julie Christie for example. But it’s really up to you to decide if you want to do plastic surgery, it should be an individual choice and an informed one. Often people think that plastic surgery will solve all their insecurities and restaure their confidence but really the problem is more then skin deep (if you know what I mean).
I agree that plastic surgery should be a personal choice and an informed one but I wonder about what influences people to get plastic surgery (apart from accidents) I mean what makes a person so unhappy with how they look that they feel the need to be surgically altered? There are so many things that influence how a person feels about the way they look.What if someone who is normally considered ‘ugly’ by society was continually told that they were beautiful ? What if a ‘beautiful’ woman never recieved a compliment about her looks? How would they both feel? How would we feel about our own looks if a different criterion for beauty was championed in magazines other than tan, tall and slim?
I think its all about how each individual perceives beauty. The fashion magazines portray their version. A lot of it lies in our history as well. Through out time man has tried to enhance their features. Take any civilization. Its just now there are more ways to make that possible. I think plastic surgery is a bit drastic and completely alters what you were born with. I’m neither for it nor against it. But as for transforming yourself using make up, well pretty much everyone does it. It looks more apparent on these girls, cause they don’t have a deep crease above their eyes and in general have narrower eyes. So adding a little eyemake up makes a huge difference. The same make up on another person might not quite have the same effect. For example, as an Indian girl I can’t live with out eye liner (kajal). And I hate looking the same everyday so i wear the line a different way everytime. I hardly takes a min to apply, but it really opens up your eyes and makes you look less tired. Without it i look like I haven’t slept all night. So I don’t think the second video really matters. But ya I do think it does create a pressure for people around. I had a phase where I used to hate make up, while all my friends applied make up and I did feel less pretty. But that was just a teenage phase. Now it really dosen’t matter. I wear make up when i feel like gettign all dressed up and theres a particular look I’m going for, and an outfit just looks incomplete without the right make up to compliment it. so….
Thanks for joining in, and yes I suppose it is all about how each individual percieves beauty, after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I understand what you say about some outfits requiring make-up, I mean if you go to a party in a fancy outfit and heels it would be odd not to wear make-up wouldn’t it? I find it sad that it would be odd, I bet a lot of women reading this (me included) would feel self-conscious and uncomfortable if they were to go to a party without make-up on. I also think we would feel less uncomfortable if all the other women were not wearing make-up, so I think the fact that some outfits and situations require make-up is due to social pressure.we compare ourselves to others and want to do our best to fit in socially and so make-up fly’s off shelves. In writing this response I have realised that when I put on make-up I am probably pressuring other women I enounter to put it on too. Something for us all to think about x
I wouldn’t quite put it like that. I don’t think an individual applying make up is indirectly pressurizing another to do so as well. In fact some of my prettiest friends wear no make up. The only reason I do so is not cause people around me do, but I just want to look different everyday. Its like a little experiment for me. In fact I come from an Indian society where wearing too much make up is in fact frowned upon. So there are a lot of times I feel out of place wearing make up due to the looks i attract. But i love dressing up. I love colours and love having those colours on me. And i wear make up just so I can have some colours on me. As for the Kajal, its so my eyes can be a focus. I want people to look at my eyes when they talk. I hate it when someone can’t look you in the eye and talk. So defining my eyes with eye liner is like outlining it and highlighting it so peoples eyes are drawn there. Kind of like how when you make a presentation for work or school you highlight whats important.
Nice to get a different perspective on it, I agree that it is not always down to pressure, lots of people genuinely enjoy experimenting with make-up and lots of people who wear it don’t feel pressured to wear it. That said though I think my comment about parties till stands, certainly at the ones I go to the women are all wearing make-up and not do so would make you feel out of place. How many role models are there for women on tv and in magazines who are not wearing make-up? There are certainly a lot less than those who are wearing it in my experience, what about the tv and magazines in india? What would you say the make-up to non make-up ratio is?
(Thank you so much for taking the time to engage in debate and sharing your views with us )
True. It’s no different. But some how having lived in Mumbai where all the mainstream Indian movies are made, the girls in the city din’t really feel much of a pressure to wear make up. As for the celebs. I think off late a lot of the younger stars go out without makeup on. But I think there’s a huge pressure on them by the media and the common people to apply make up and to look good. They look bad one day and they are all over the papers with people pointing out how bad they looked and how they can’t take the effort to take care of themselves. That I do agree is kind of sad. Though one example of an Indian celeb who is known world wide, Aishwarya Rai, doesn’t really wear much make up going out. And if she can still be considered among some of the most beautiful women, then I think more women should follow suit.
Another point to note that most people don’t realize when it comes to celebs is that they have to wear that make up to enhance their looks on camera. A lot of times, even though you look good in the mirror, you look bad on camera. And not many people realize that.
I’m glad the girls in Mumbai don’t feel too much pressure to wear make-up. I completely agree that there is so much pressure on celebs to look good, but when they are being slated and paraded in magazines as looking terrible and tired when they don’t wear make-up, I think that definately has an impact on woman in general. If we see beautiful celebrities being slated because they are not wearing make-up, that can make it less likely that ordinary women will confident enough to go out without make-up. Only very occasionally is the coverage of celebrities who don’t wear make-up favourable, the most recent example I can think of is beyonce and that came after she won People Magazine’s ‘Most Beautiful’ Award. And there isn’t much coverage of Aishwarya rai without make up, if you search ‘Aishwarya rai without make-up only the 5th image on the first row is she actually not wearing make-up, the hundreds of other images show her with make-up on, it’s a shame celebs without make-up don’t receive more positive coverage. True we often don’t take into account that make-up is often worn due to cameras, but just how bad would people on tv look without make-up, do the bright lights and cameras really have a drastic impact, or is just that ordinary flaws are more apparent? Would they just look normal? or is there really such an ‘uglifying’ effect from tv cameras? This is a genuine question to all readers, does anyone know anything about this? Please share x
Just to give you another perspective on the use of make up by women. An arab colleague told me this a while back. Arab women in general use a lot of make up and spend a lot on plastic surgery. Regarding their use of make up, what my Arab colleague told me was that they do so because they are covered from head to toe. Its only their face and hands that are visible. So thats the only part they can really dress up. A lot of them wear comfy home clothes like pajamas under their abayas and just do up their face.
Another thing, just as a general discussion, I would like to bring to notice would be that I think the geographical location and climate plays an important part as well. Like I had pointed about Mumbai girls earlier, I think thats mostly because Mumbai is extremely hot and humid. So your make up would be leaking off your face by the end of the day.
With regard to make up and camera, this is an article I came across
http://www.cybercollege.com/makeup.htm
A lot of times it really boosts self-esteem and helps people become more open to others, sometimes though certain individuals don’t know when to stop. I personally wouldn’t do it, but hey I am saying it now when I am 25, maybe this will change when I am 40!
Maybe our opinions will all change as age starts to take it’s toll. I agree that make-up boosts self-esteem, I feel better when I have make-up on, but I think the fact that make-up gives women more self-confidence is evidence of a worrying problem.
I think everyone deserves to feel good, & too feel good you need to look good but the pressure mounting on teenage girls to look like an air brushed beauty is beyond a joke.. Girls have forgotten what natural beauty is due to glossy magazine photos & feel the need to hide behind a mask of make up fake tan and so on, I’m just glad I can see beyond beauty & that I’m happy for who I am & what I look like because nobodys perfect!
Thanks for commenting Carol, I agree that due to magazines and the type of beauty continually championed in them woman turn to masks of make-up an fake tan. When is any model shown in a magazine not got make up one? in fact when is any woman shown in a magazine not got make up on? The ‘before’ photos don’t count.
Jenyfer Lopez is the more natural after the surgery, contrary to Megan fox and Nicole Kidman. She used to look like a man!
The second video is amazing. What a change!
Yeah, whatever else the girls in that second video are talented when it comes to make-up
Great post! I think we’re all a little obsessed with making ourselves look our best but I don’t think that should be at the cost of looking like yourself!
I agree, I don’t think looking your best and looking like a different person are the same thing, thanks for contributing