When considering Samantha’s pop culture reference to the Carrie Prejean controversy, which serves as an example of Levi’s described discrepancy between conservative political ideals and the public behavior of conservative minded people, I cannot help mentioning Heidi Montag and her recent transformation under the knife. Heidi’s conservative and Christian values have previously been compromised through her next-to-nude posing in Playboy, but now she has gone even further to contradict her beliefs through her actions by abandoning her so called God-given body for what she describes as an upgraded version. Undergoing ten surgeries in one day, ranging from breast implants, to chin reduction, to buttocks augmentation, Montag almost lost her life in an effort to conform to the sexualized ideal of the female form that feeds Levy’s notion of raunch culture. Montag supports her decision for the surgery by describing her former insecurities provoked by constant criticism of her body from the public eye, and in doing so she counters any notion of the liberation of women and the idea of taking control of one’s sexuality. Instead, she provides another example of a woman relying on her physical appearance and sexual allure in order to be considered worthwhile, and what is even worse is that she is sacrificing her supposed values and beliefs in order to do so. Clearly posing in Playboy for Heidi was not the result of having a “more grown-up, comfortable, natural attitude about sex and sexiness” as suggested by Christie Hefner, but rather another exhibition of her insecurity and her anti-feminist notion that her physical appearance is her only route to relevance.
I definitely agree with Ali. Plastic surgery and the sexual and social implications that surround it has become an extremely complicated issue in our society. I think that most women will report that they engaged in a surgical procedure to alter something they don’t like about themselves, to make themselves happier. We are all subject to the push and pull of what society deems attractive, acceptable and desirable. I think a person first feels a sense of discomfort that drives them to alter themselves. This discomfort originates in the social forces in our society on what is an acceptable aesthetic. I think Montag’s obsession with looks are only encouraging other young women across the county to be equally critical of, and uncomfortable with, their own bodies.
ReplyDelete-Rachel Stahl
After reading this post, I remembered reading the article about Heidi Montag in People's magazine. It was an absurd article. The before and after pictures of Heidi were appalling. Her lips are huge, her breasts (size DDD and she even said she wants them bigger in the future), and even the shape of her face have been drastically changed. After thinking about this article and trying to understand why women subject their bodies to such drastic change for the pleasure of men and their own physical appearance, I remembered all of the other TV shows about plastic surgery. Specifically, The Swan. This TV show was produced for women who were seen as "ugly" that underwent major plastic surgery to change their appearance. Why are such TV shows allowed on national television? What is this message telling the viewers? That we should all go get plastic surgery in order to make our appearances "perfect?"
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