Indirectly related.
The following is about Australia, but I first heard about this trend as happening amongst American high schoolers on a documentary: they wanted to look like the poster-girl Baptist Jessica Simpson and her twin/sister(?)
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070309/2/12owg.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Saturday March 10, 02:35 PM
<b>Teens turn to cosmetic surgery</b>
A growing number of teenage girls are starting university with bigger breasts, smaller bottoms and straighter noses.
Doctors say Australian teenagers, mostly girls, want cosmetic surgery to boost their self-esteem, a phenomenon health professionals say is driven by the pressure to look perfect, Fairfax newspapers report.
Liposuction or breast surgery, between high school and university, are the trend.
Child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg counsels teenagers whose parents will not let them surgically alter their bodies.
"What I'm seeing is this absolute cult of celebrity," he says. "I've got girls who want to look like Britney (Spears) - or Christina Aguilera or the Veronicas and I find this so incredibly sad."
At least two Melbourne plastic surgeons refer teenagers to Dr Carr-Gregg for counselling.
Dr Carr-Gregg is surprised by the interest for surgery. "I've never received so many letters asking me about body and surgery," he says.
Darryl Hodgkinson, a cosmetic surgeon for 26 years, says between three and five per cent of his patients are teenagers.
Victorian Health Services Commissioner Beth Wilson says such a body shape is "in the normal range for humanity, but not within the normal range of the propaganda".
"Young girls are bombarded by huge amounts of propaganda from the beauty industry. It's everywhere: billboards, <b>television, magazines</b>," she says.
"Airbrushed images which are not accurate representations of what people look like ... and it's very difficult for young girls in particular to withstand that kind of bombardment."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->This is very sad, not to mention detrimental for teens.
But it should become part of whiteness studies. Why do American youngsters, and now many in Australia too, want to undergo painful and dangerous cosmetic <i>surgery</i> to change their appearance?
In reality, the answer is simple: it's what people in these countries today (in this case, girls) are bombarded with. And teens are particularly impressionable. Some think they too need to look a certain way to be a success/feel pretty and think they are a failure otherwise. That's why they see this surgery option as a way of changing themselves to finally have the outside of the other 'succes packages' they've seen on tv.
It's a trend. It will fade away.
A lot of it is from American television streamed to the rest of the world, though. These kids want to look like American stars in general. See also post 81 below
In Korea and Japan many actors regularly have operations to change their face structure and get larger eyes, more westernised nose (whatever that is supposed to be) and wider jaws. (But it's known Taiwanese actors don't do this.)
Don't know why they do it at all, because Koreans and Japanese look beautiful without it. One day they'll realise it's not necessary and they look better as they naturally are.
In India, the whole 'wanting to look fairer than one is' is going to go the way of the dodo too.
Of course, it's quite likely that in a few generations people will find some other fetish to grab on to. (Called fashion I guess.)
And of course there will always be the usual percentage of sane people who realise that their looks are ideally suited to them and becoming fairer or getting curly hair or pointy ears or whatever won't go well with the rest of their looks. One is (generally) born with the combination that suits one best. Personally, I've yet to see otherwise.
The following is about Australia, but I first heard about this trend as happening amongst American high schoolers on a documentary: they wanted to look like the poster-girl Baptist Jessica Simpson and her twin/sister(?)
http://au.news.yahoo.com/070309/2/12owg.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Saturday March 10, 02:35 PM
<b>Teens turn to cosmetic surgery</b>
A growing number of teenage girls are starting university with bigger breasts, smaller bottoms and straighter noses.
Doctors say Australian teenagers, mostly girls, want cosmetic surgery to boost their self-esteem, a phenomenon health professionals say is driven by the pressure to look perfect, Fairfax newspapers report.
Liposuction or breast surgery, between high school and university, are the trend.
Child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg counsels teenagers whose parents will not let them surgically alter their bodies.
"What I'm seeing is this absolute cult of celebrity," he says. "I've got girls who want to look like Britney (Spears) - or Christina Aguilera or the Veronicas and I find this so incredibly sad."
At least two Melbourne plastic surgeons refer teenagers to Dr Carr-Gregg for counselling.
Dr Carr-Gregg is surprised by the interest for surgery. "I've never received so many letters asking me about body and surgery," he says.
Darryl Hodgkinson, a cosmetic surgeon for 26 years, says between three and five per cent of his patients are teenagers.
Victorian Health Services Commissioner Beth Wilson says such a body shape is "in the normal range for humanity, but not within the normal range of the propaganda".
"Young girls are bombarded by huge amounts of propaganda from the beauty industry. It's everywhere: billboards, <b>television, magazines</b>," she says.
"Airbrushed images which are not accurate representations of what people look like ... and it's very difficult for young girls in particular to withstand that kind of bombardment."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->This is very sad, not to mention detrimental for teens.
But it should become part of whiteness studies. Why do American youngsters, and now many in Australia too, want to undergo painful and dangerous cosmetic <i>surgery</i> to change their appearance?
In reality, the answer is simple: it's what people in these countries today (in this case, girls) are bombarded with. And teens are particularly impressionable. Some think they too need to look a certain way to be a success/feel pretty and think they are a failure otherwise. That's why they see this surgery option as a way of changing themselves to finally have the outside of the other 'succes packages' they've seen on tv.
It's a trend. It will fade away.
A lot of it is from American television streamed to the rest of the world, though. These kids want to look like American stars in general. See also post 81 below
In Korea and Japan many actors regularly have operations to change their face structure and get larger eyes, more westernised nose (whatever that is supposed to be) and wider jaws. (But it's known Taiwanese actors don't do this.)
Don't know why they do it at all, because Koreans and Japanese look beautiful without it. One day they'll realise it's not necessary and they look better as they naturally are.
In India, the whole 'wanting to look fairer than one is' is going to go the way of the dodo too.
Of course, it's quite likely that in a few generations people will find some other fetish to grab on to. (Called fashion I guess.)
And of course there will always be the usual percentage of sane people who realise that their looks are ideally suited to them and becoming fairer or getting curly hair or pointy ears or whatever won't go well with the rest of their looks. One is (generally) born with the combination that suits one best. Personally, I've yet to see otherwise.