Guest guest Posted November 1, 2008 Report Share Posted November 1, 2008 Plastic surgeons can't implant self-esteem - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Address:http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/seate/\ print_563534.htm Plastic surgeons can't implant self-esteem By Mike Seate TRIBUNE-REVIEW Monday, April 21, 2008 I'm riding in a car with two co-workers when I explain why I hate strip clubs. "They're full of trashy, drunk women who get breast implants," I said. My comments, oddly, are greeted by a very noticeable silence. After a few miles, a co-worker breaks the silence. "My wife has breast implants. Getting them doesn't make someone trashy," he says. OK, so I've got my left foot firmly planted between my gums, but ours is a fascinating collision of opinions. On one hand, my insistence on viewing breast implants -- the most common form of surgery in the United States today, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons -- as inherently trashy and cheap must reveal me to be incredibly out of date and prudish. On the other hand, unless a women has suffered a mastectomy or some other disfiguring malady, why, you have to wonder, are 347,000 American women subjecting themselves to painful, wholly unnecessary surgeries each year? And these are operations that, let's be honest, make them look like amateur porn stars or dollar-a-dance strippers. My buddy in the car claims his wife had breast augmentation because she wanted "more confidence" in the workplace. This is a common rationale for the operations, which can cost thousands of dollars and leave women potential scarred, not to mention with a set of appendages that more closely resemble the Hindenburg than anything Mother Nature devised for feeding infants. Apparently, boobs that resemble World War II-era airships are all the rage, as the number of implant surgeries has boomed from 212,500 in 2000 to 347,000 last year. This despite silicone gel implants being banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 1992 to 2006. What women want to do with their bodies is their own concern. But what's sad about all of this is how easily women -- and we're talking educated, post-feminist, working women who earn enough money to pay for elective cosmetic surgery -- can be fooled into believing that big boobs will guarantee them confidence and respect in the workplace. These women could save themselves a lot of pain and wads of cash by simply speaking to women who were born well endowed. They'd find that few, if any, D-cup women feel naturally confident because of their breast size. In my 45 years, I've yet to meet a large-breasted woman who didn't wish she were smaller or one who didn't agonize over how much unwanted attention her figure attracted from men. So for the love of all things natural, ladies, have a chat with a friend before putting yourselves under the knife. You just might learn that self-confidence has nothing to do with cup size. Mike Seate can be reached at mseate@... or 724-320-7845. Images and text copyright © 2008 by The Tribune-Review Publishing Co. Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:06 pm Show Message Option View Source Use Fixed Width Font Unwrap Lines lany25@... lany220 Offline Send Email http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/seate/print_56\ 3534.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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