Is Cosmetic Surgery Bad For Women

While interest in physical appearance is a universal phenomenon with a very long history, there are increasing concerns in the early twenty-first century with respect to the degree of preoccupation and distress experienced as a result of the perceived gap between personal appearance and prevailing appearance ideals (described variously as ‘body image dissatisfaction’, ‘body image anxiety’, ‘appearance dissatisfaction’ or ‘appearance anxiety’. There is a growing body of research evidence on current levels of body image anxiety, how such anxiety manifests in people’s behaviour, and how this may change as a person ages.

It has been reported that a significant minority of the general UK population is dissatisfied with their appearance. Adolescence has been highlighted especially as a point at which levels of positive body image may decline rapidly. Unhappiness or dissatisfaction with appearance are more likely to be identified in girls than boys, although the evidence is complex and changing.

Media

Social Media Influence

As technology develops, media heavily influences and defines society standards of beauty though the use of celebrities with cosmetic enhancements. Younger female generations begin to perceive celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, Nicki Minaj etc as the beauty and desirability requirement that should be met by women. These standards condition women to envision hourglass shaped females as the ideal of which obtained through cosmetic surgery.

Nonetheless, media contributes to body dissatisfaction caused by the pressure created by social media platforms due to normal women comparing themselves to airbrushed and photoshopped pictures of celebrities. For this reason many women decide to undergo cosmetic enhancements to meet the standard of beauty which is then validated by social media like and compliments. For instance, liposuction is a trending cosmetic procedure heavily promoted on social platform, such as Instagram, to obtain a “flatter” stomach and toned up body parts. All women are attempting to obtain this homogenous look seen on social platform. As an example, lip fillers heavily represent a characteristic of the ideal self on Instagram, for this reason many women began overlining their lips as theses cosmetic surgeries are expensive. This isn’t beneficial to women as its creates a subconscious level of self hatred and and anxiety to conform to unrealistic ideals set by a virtual world.

The levels of anxiety arising in the context of pressures to conform to particular appearance ideals, and their impact on mental health, are a matter of public health concern. Moreover, the social expectations and ideals to which we are encouraged to conform and aspire are not necessarily ethically neutral or value free. Many cosmetic interventions both reflect and promote gender, disability and racial norms, and hence may reinforce existing inequalities and discriminatory attitudes, despite countervailing changes in social attitudes towards diversity and inclusion.