Beauty Cuts More Than Skin Deep by Dr Leslie Cannold - Article Example

?Beauty cuts more than skin deep – Argumentative Essay Looking beautiful has always been the dream for a large part of the population. Previously it was not possible for everyone to look as beautiful as they desired because of the involved expense. Only a few decades ago procedures such as plastic surgery and facial makeovers were restricted to the rich and the famous. The large costs associated with such procedures forbade the average person to get involved with such procedures. Still this is not indicative of the idea that people in previous times did nothing to beautify themselves. The practice of using makeup, getting facials, bleaching faces and dyeing hair persist from yester year to the modern day. In the article, the author tends to indicate that the practice of beautifying oneself is more or less a recent trend. Though this is not expressed directly but the indication and focus on more recent techniques such as Botox indicate that the author is analysing the situation in a recent perspective only. People have been in the race to beautify themselves from ancient times. There are indications to suggest that cosmetics were utilised by affluent men and women alike in the ancient Egyptian civilisation (Winter, 2005). Not only this, the practice of denying the usage of cosmetics and other beautification agents has been just as strong. In her article, Cannold (2012) suggests that the onus of using makeup or beautification agents and denying it falls squarely on women. However, this may not necessarily be true. The denial of using beautification agents is just as rampant in men as in women. Studies have indicated that the usage of cosmetics is more of a personal or individual affair than a gender related affair. The author indicates that women use Botox and other beautification agents but deny it in front of other women. She also implies that women are not concerned with Botox usage in men but instead are concerned with the use of such agents by other women. However, if this phenomenon is looked at in detail, it could be recognised that none of us, whether men or women, want to admit our fallibility to age. As indicated before, the use of beautification agents is not associated to gender anymore (Robertson, Fieldman, & Hussey, 2008). Instead, the old values are being replaced by new values where men and women alike want to deny the usage of any beautification agents. The author further develops her argument by presenting weight as a means of differentiating between women’s social groups. Cannold (2012) suggests that women of one weight category will socialise with each other only in order to justify their own weight. This serves as a weak argument since this argument can be generalised to nearly any gender and their socialisation patterns. It is relevant to note that men will only socialise with other men who share common physical characteristics. For example, body builder men will socialise with others who are conscious about their physical well being. This argument can also be extended further to espouse the third gender. Members of the third gender will only socialise with members of the third gender since they resemble physically. Hence, it could be concluded that physically similar people will socialise with each other whether you talk about men, women or about the third gender. The author extends her argument to indicate that women utilise beautification agents in order to fit into their social groups where 50 year olds seem like 40 year olds. Again, it could be argued that men tend to be just as choosy about their appearance and this can be demonstrated by looking at the corporate sector. Restricting the argument’s scope to women alone is rather lope sided since male corporate managers do their best to look and as fresh as a cucumber (Gimlin, 2002). Present-ability is one of the most esteemed characteristics of the corporate world especially at the higher levels. This applies across the board to men and women operating in those domains (Low, 2008). The author’s treatment of women as the only creatures who want to beautify themselves on planet earth is rather unjustified and one sided. The argumentation would have been much stronger if the author would have considered males as well as females. The only mention of men in the article is negative and stereotypical. Women are shown as blaming men for pushing their standards for visual appearance too high. The author fails to mention that adults are free to follow their own destinies which undermines her line of argument. Women who blame men for pushing the standards of visual appearance too high could be counter argued by relating that men blame women for pushing the standards of physical appearance too high. This would result into little than the ontological chicken and egg question that would yield no results. Going further, the author blames the visual appearance standards of women being pushed too high by other women who tend to look too good. Strangely, the option to look good is a basic right that applies to all human beings. It is up to individuals to choose how they look like. Goths look like other Goths but can choose to look like an Indian if they want to. The power of someone else’s actions to influence another person’s actions such as in the case about beautification made by the author is more about consumerism than about beauty. Overall, it could be argued that “consumerism cuts more than skin deep” instead of blaming the process of beautification. Bibliography Cannold, Leslie (2012, July 29). Beauty cuts more than skin deep. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/beauty-cuts-more-than-skin-deep-20120728-232nf.html#ixzz221V5WZd1 Gimlin, D. L. (2002). Body Work: Beauty and Self Image in American Culture . University of California Press. Low, A. (2008). Conflict and Creativity at Work: Human Roots of Corporate Life. Sussex: Sussex Academic Press. Robertson, J., Fieldman, G., & Hussey, T. (2008). "Who wears Cosmetics?" Individual Differences and their Relationship with Cosmetic Usage. Individual Differences Research 6 (1) , 38–56. Winter, R. (2005). A Consumer's Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients: Complete Information About the Harmful and Desirable Ingredients in Cosmetics . New York: Three Rivers Press. Beauty cuts more than skin deep Botox ... most women don't own up. Photo: iStock Why do some women hate others who use Botox and other ''liquid'' facelift techniques but give men who use the stuff a free pass? We like to think of ourselves as individuals and the decisions we make about how we keep our skin, hair and body as based on personal preferences but the truth is more complex than that. In fact, what an individual comes to consider de rigueur on her personal grooming ''to do'' list is the outcome of complex social processes taking place in the wider society and her personal social group. Take body weight. Studies show that women judge their body weight by reference to cultural and fashion models with whom they identify and - more importantly - by the immediate social group. If the icons and peers with whom they identify are larger women, then they deem a larger body to be ''normal'' and feel fine about it. In the same way, the collective influences the judgments individuals make about what constitutes ''ageing gracefully'' and ''letting oneself go''. Nearly all the middle-class, educated women I know dye their hair, apply face cream and wear make-up. The mantra is that 50 is the new 40 and, from what I observe, this means that women broaching 50 don't just want to feel 10 years younger - they want to look it, too. Advertisement Some find this easier to achieve than others. For those without genetics on their side, cosmetic interventions such as Botox and injectable skin fillers can help. But while women in my social milieu speak openly about their next root-dyeing appointment, few admit to getting their Botox topped up. Indeed, as one cosmetic nurse told me, gift certificates that her surgery donated to a private school charity auction for facial fillers were passed in without a single bid, despite many women in the room being clients of the practice. Where's there's silence, you'll often find shame and the shame surrounding surgical and liquid cosmetic interventions in Australia is legion. But who's peddling it, and why? Radical feminists - and their Christian pseudo-feminist cousins - blame men. As one angry young woman put it in response to a piece I wrote on the issue several years ago: ''Women get plastic surgery, as well as spend endless time and money on all of the other beauty practices listed, because men require us to … Men invent new and higher standards of beauty for us to live up to because they need new and different ways of knowing that we're still playing the game.'' My experience is that the shaming and silencing around Botox has nothing to do with men and everything to do with other women. Not the vast majority of women - who are lovely to one another and respectful of each other's hang-ups, shortcomings and choices - but two sub-groups of the pursed-lipped I'll call '''the holier-than-thou'' and ''the controlling wenches''. The holier-than-thou It's hard to take this subspecies seriously. First, because the ''men make us do it'' argument is so factually flawed. It is estimated that one-third of wrinkle-reduction procedures are done on men, which suggests that consumerism - not sexism - is a key driver of demand. Second, because holier-than-thou politics are so hopelessly … unpolitical. If it is true that social forces - not individual choices - are piloting women's decisions to undertake cosmetic surgery, then it seems hopelessly regressive to shame individual women from abstaining as a means of effecting global changes to female behaviour. The controlling wenches Despite the name, I have a fair bit of sympathy for this lot. As the use of cosmetic surgical interventions becomes the norm, expectations of what a ''typical'' 50-year-old looks like are changing, too. From a situation where a woman who chooses to use cosmetic interventions may be lauded for looking ''great for her age'', we may be arriving at a place where a more youthful appearance is expected. Women who choose not to intervene may no longer be seen as ''ageing gracefully'' but instead be viewed as looking ''old'', or even judged for ''letting themselves go''. This is why the wench snaps at the heels of women who admit to using injectables in an attempt to slow or halt the changes to social norms resulting from the collective consequences of individual decisions that increasingly ''normalise'' such use. So why do some women have a problem with others who use Botox, but no issues with men? Because we are social creatures and compare ourselves to other women, not men. And - as is the way with social phenomenon - it is the decisions some women are making to add liquid facelift procedures to their grooming regime that is changing the nature and types of choices available to others. Dr Leslie Cannold is an ethicist, public speaker and author of The Book of Rachael. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/beauty-cuts-more-than-skin-deep-20120728-232nf.html#ixzz221V5WZd1 Read More