The First Cut Is The Deepest…
Perceptions of beauty are subjective and arbitrary. This is because everyone has a different vision of what constitutes the ideal physical human shell.
All across the world over centuries, people have been modifying their bodies to exemplify a specific prototype or accepted norm. Though disparate, what societies have in common is a form of pressure placed on their respective populaces to fit in with culturally accepted standards of how they should look and be perceived by each other.
People undertake all kinds of transformations from their time of birth to fit in with the established social order.
In modern Western civilization, people undergo plastic surgery and obsess themselves over makeup and clothing everyday in order to present a gorgeous outwardly appearance. Big breasts, big lips, painted eyes, and smooth hairless skin are among some of the esteemed traits that are considered beautiful.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, historically ethnic groups in Africa have painted their faces to maintain group identity through color schemes and patterns that are distinctively unique to their own tribes. While this form of body modification can be seen as serving a practical purpose, Azeb Tabesse, Assistant Director for African Studies at UCLA asserts that “there is also a definite aesthetic motivation behind the act of adorning oneself among ethnic groups in Africa.”
Whether it’s for practical purposes or an attempt to display a paragon of winsomeness, the result is a dichotomy where what one considers beautiful, another may deem as ugly. In this clash of ideals, the result is extreme shock.
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If someone is too beautiful, echoes of skepticism decrying plastic surgery and expensive cosmetics infer the cause of elegance. The upper class 5th avenue socialite’s attire is completely opposite of the rock star’s tattoo-clad body.
Even when the appearance of someone doesn’t fit with our personal conceptions of constitutes ‘beautiful’, for better or worse, we are magnetically fixated on the object of attention. There seems to be a fascination with both sameness and difference.
The common link between opposing visions of beauty is the realization that from lipstick to plastic surgery, we all do something to alter ourselves dependent on our own regard of being alluring.
Whether it’s a temporary or permanent form of body modification, from leg waxing and eyebrow tweezing to scarification and nose jobs, few people remain unchanged and in the same natural state they are born into. We’re always reaching for the end goal of perfection, however we personally define it.
In terms of the reasoning behind why people pierce or tattoo their bodies, experts suggest that, “every reason is personal. A lot of times it has to do with beautifying, but also, a lot of people do it to mark occasions or significant times in their lives.
Going back to Africa where piercing and earlobe stretching originated among ethnic groups, UCLA’s Tabesse denotes that “in addition to group identification, among males, piercing and scarification is also a sign of strength and courage.”
While it’s no secret that body piercing is painful, no one ever said being beautiful was easy. Perhaps the pain associated with this form of body modification is what causes those who pierce their bodies to exude an aura of toughness in the façade they portray.
For the more gentle soul, a trip to the cosmetics counter or the spa for therapeutic treatments and slightly less painful body modifications can take place.
Bliss Spa’s publicity associate Brooke Temner declares the company’s most popular consumer products sold target the repair and elimination of cellulite. From seaweed soap to a syrum and scrub for thighs, a product called “fatgirlslim” is a top seller, “featuring QuSome encapsulated caffeine molecules for quick delivery of skin slimming action.”
If it feels like forever to wait and see the result of applying creams daily to cellulite ridden areas, when people really want to get rid of fat and desire an immediate fix, they talk to Manhattan-based Dr. John E. Sherman, a plastic surgeon in the business for over twenty-six years.
“Most of my clients and arguably the most popularly requested form of surgery in the North-East United States is liposuction,” claims Sherman. “However, it’s different everywhere. In the West, for example California, the most beseeched form of body modification is arguably breast augmentation.”
Sometimes people can take things too far, or at least, based on our personal subjective opinions of what constitutes an acceptable level of presentation. Too many piercings, or too much plastic surgery stupefies any possible justification or sane rationale, to some.
In the same manner, the complete lack of modification in an unpainted face or uncoiffed mane defies the same societal acceptance.
The iconic lovely lady styled fashionably strutting down 5th Avenue and leaving a gust of perfumed memory behind her perfectly highlighted hair has thus become both an object of affection, and an enigma.
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There is either a desire to replicate her aura, or rebel against it. Whichever the case, there’s a form of modification that takes place and an assertion of how beauty is defined.
The important question then, is when did we become so sensitive and insecure about ourselves that across the globe we have succumb in large numbers to painful procedures to enhance our physical appearances? We deplete our pocketbooks, time, and energy in the process yet something innate propels us.
Whether we choose to conform or oppose, scrutiny is inescapable. Either we’re aiming for perfection among society’s vain standards or we’re making a political statement against established norms.
As we use tools from the Earth to create our image, it all brings us back to humanity.
For the love or hate of how we are in our natural states, sans body modifications, from the clothing we choose to the extreme ways we present ourselves, whether it’s for the sake of shock or acceptance, it’s for the sake of something, and we all do it.
