One can imagine tears flowing from the great stone eyes of the Cristo Redentor statue overlooking the throngs of cosmetically enhanced, half-naked women bustling on the beaches of Rio De Janeiro. Although it claims the title of having the most Catholics of any country in the world, Brazil has never tried to suppress its highly sexual and erotic culture. Upon hearing the mention of the country, one may conjure up images of intense football matches or densely lush rainforest, but perhaps also of the highly fantasized bikini clad Brazilian babe. Brazil’s obsession with the body has reached a peak this past decade with a spike in the number of plastic surgeries, recently surpassing the United States as the country with the most cosmetic surgeries performed. The spike has set off a debate in the country about the nature and justification of plastic surgery.
Confronted with the idea of plastic surgery, many will immediately cry vanity. Intuitively, this position is simple: one should not modify their body to conform to society's artificial idea of beauty, as “inner beauty” should theoretically outweigh the importance of the external self. Such a position has merit; women shouldn't self-objectify themselves by getting breast enlargements for the sake of wooing men. Yet the reality of plastic surgery is much more complicated, especially in Brazil. Women can undergo surgery for improving their own self-esteems, whereas others may undergo operations like liposuction in order to remove perceived ugliness. Some see it as an investment, knowing full well that a more attractive physique will increase their chances of getting the job. Most importantly, the philosophical conceptualizations of self beauty have begun to shift dramatically, with beauty enhancement now being viewed as an attainable human right and a tool for upward mobility. In keeping all these points in mind, cosmetic and plastic surgery can be justifiable in many cases where the motivation for self-enhancement consists of factors other than pure conformity.
One argument given by many women for surgery is that beauty operations help them land better jobs. Jacqueline, a 40-year-old Brazilian woman, says that she “[invests] in beauty because this is very important for women here. You can get a better job because here they want a good appearance.” While a hiring system based on looks is unfortunate in principle, Jacqueline has truthfully pointed out the cold hard reality that beauty, especially for women, will almost always be an extra hurdle in getting work. Using a cosmetic enhancement to increase your chances of getting hired then becomes an almost necessary vanity, rather than a self-motivated one.
Others note that surgical self-improvements are primarily motivated by our own desire to look beautiful rather than the need to conform to society. Dr. Ivo Pitanguy, a celebrated Brazilian plastic surgeon revered by colleagues as the “philosopher of plástica,” notes that the actual end result of surgical beautification matters less than how the patient mentally feels about the idea enhancement and bettering one’s physique. In “Why Makeup Isn’t Superficial,” Mike Rugnetta from the PBS Idea Channel brings up the idea that makeup (here comparable to cosmetic surgery) isn't strictly about “looking a certain way”, but rather how “looking a certain way makes you feel” (2:21 of the video). Mike’s statement highlights a point many overlook in this debate: that an individual can have standards of aesthetics separate from society's view of beauty. If one is motivated to undergo plastic surgery to correct a personal defect stemming from that individual’s own standard of beauty, the notion of bending to society's ideal standards of beauty becomes less pronounced.
Admittedly, many undergo surgery just to look good for others. But the supposed vanity of even this motivation can also be argued against. In an informal internet discussion on morality of plastic surgery, a Reddit user insightfully points out that “people don't desire cosmetic surgery because they are shallow. They desire it because they think that everyone else in our society is shallow and probably won't treat them with the same level of external validation that those people otherwise give to other more physically attractive people.” Realistically, societies’ views of beauty unfortunately do matter in almost every daily interaction, from making friends to landing a career. Changing one's appearance simply gives a person a better chance at successfully carrying out these interactions.
“The poor have the right to be beautiful, too,” Dr. Pitanguy asserts. Dr. Pitanguy believes cheap surgical techniques like his have helped democratize the field of looks and make beauty an attainable “right.” Such a conception changes notions of beauty completely; rather than being allotted to us by nature, beauty can now be a modifiable aspect of ourselves. Beauty enhancement not only helps us look our best, but also helps eliminate discrimination based on looks, have stronger self-esteem and land better jobs. Nose job, breast enlargement and now the Brazilian butt-lift: the options for self enhancement are only growing. To completely strike them down by claiming they are vain ignores the many different positive and pragmatic motivations behind self-enhancement.
Hasan Khan is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at h.khan@cavalierdaily.com.
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