Plastic Surgeries and Bleaching: A Form Of Inferiority Complex
The phenomenon of plastic and cosmetic surgeries have left women all around the world at the crossroads of deciding whether to dare it or not. These thoughts come as a result of what I earlier termed “inferiority complex”, in the article on skin bleaching as a racial suicide. It is a very controversial phenomenon that has necessitated the use of women’s body as a “technological experiment” mostly perceived as Western culture. This practice is very common in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Though perceived a Western culture, many non-western populations continue to get involved in such acts on daily basis. Others especially in Africa and the Cameroons may have the desire to dare it but may lack the necessary finance. The desire of body perfections has resulted in women using the knife on their bodies. Because it is a decision of the self; humans thus mutilate, manipulate, alter, transform, decorate their bodies for psycho-social reasons, self-esteem, social status, and beauty. Many will agree that it is a risky venture no matter the satisfaction that accrues from the results.
A majority of the women who undergo such surgeries always want to look their best as women and to stand tall among their peers; cosmetic surgeries have become a social norm as most women do not even question the entire process but are more interested in knowing the cost and the specialist who undertakes the surgery. They go in for breast augmentation, buttocks, hips and thigh, belly surgeries which involve the removal of specific bulges resulting from excess fat, nose surgeries, and facial uplift. But, is it worth daring? A famous feminist writer in the 90s Kathryn Pauly Morgan affirmed that modern technology is often set up in oppositional relation to a domain that is designated as the “natural”. This means that Western technology has come to replace “original” human bodies with the “artificial”. If one looks at a music icon like Michael Jackson, there is no doubt that plastic surgery is a “no go area” for people who because of their body size, shape, and color suffer from an inferiority complex which has resulted in a lack of self-esteem.
Cosmetic surgeons are gaining prominence in these practices thereby making the beauty industry a widely recognized and highly commercialized sector in which human bodies are being used as objects open to transformations to ever more artificial and perfect states. However, these biotechnological specialists have always been there to carry out various surgeries on women’s bodies with the use of the “knife”, like to cut-off a cancerous nodule in the breast of women, an ovarian cyst in the bellies of women, cesarean operations for the birth of a child, kidney transplants, appendices, etc.There is no denying the fact that our bodies are open to technological alterations, yes… they are, especially when a person’s life is at stake.
Nevertheless, I affront the practice of cosmetic/plastic surgeries in “the name of wanting one’s desired self-esteem”. However, it still depends on the person’s subjective behavior towards the practice. If only we could accept who we are (our natural selves), then there will be no reason to undergo such adventurous and dangerous beauty surgeries in the name of perfecting our bodies. Thus, if an individual feels the need to alter her/his body for certain aesthetic or psycho-social reasons, it is left for her/him to decide whether or not to engage in such practice. It is important to point out that, these personal decisions have landed so many people who yearn for self-perfection into destroying their original bodies. Though the decision to get involved in body alterations is subjective, it is important to emphasize the repercussions of such adventurous and uncertain practices through re-education and sensitization.
Akame Gerald
Social Analyst, BaretaNews
