03.28.07
Plastic surgery
I took part in a discussion on Dave Fanning’s show last night about plastic surgery. I arrived with my usual Naomi Wolf inspired lines about women wasting time and energy on themselves instead of taking over the world. The producers had organised all kinds of contributors including a plastic surgeon in LA who told us that women were now having their toes shortened so they could fit into stilletos. This appalled me. But when they got the VET surgeon on who told us that dog owners who have had their male dogs neutered get little plastic balls inserted into the dogs to make them look intact – they are called “neuticals” – my jaw dropped and I couldn’t speak another word. All I could think was, we deserve global warming. Wipe us off the planet because we don’t deserve to inherit the earth. We deserve everything we get.
John of Dublin said,
March 28, 2007 at 1:34 pm
lol! I agree!
Nice to see you back at prolific writing.
Damien said,
March 28, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Have to say I’d consider the toe thing much wierder than that “neuticles”. The thought of doing that to a dog makes me feel a little squeamish, so I can see why someone would think of it.
But shortening your toes is just ridiculous. I can only imagine how much effort goes into resizing ten individual toes- do they break them, file them, or what?
John of Dublin said,
March 28, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Thinking of the feet/toes thing reminded me of watching the oldie “Breakfast at Tiffanys” recently with the very chic and elegant Audrey Hepburn. From viewing one of the extra documentary pieces on the DVD it seems that Audrey considered herself very imperfect and allegedly had large feet etc. Yet she was an icon to many. Nobody needs to be perfect or go to ridiculus extremes of mutilation, there is honestly and beauty in imperfection.
ben said,
March 28, 2007 at 4:44 pm
So much of all this is, like genital mutilation, done by women for women. There’s all this talk about how “the media”, which prevents women thinking for themselves apparently, portrays unhealthy body images etc., etc. — but who’s reading the magazines that have page after page after page of glossy perfume ads with these ridiculously thin women in them? It’s not men, whose attitudes tend to be more utilitarian than you might expect. There sure as hell are very few men fantasizing about women having their toes cut up.
As Terry Pratchett puts it:
“He’d noticed sex bore some resemblance to cookery: It fascinated people, they sometimes bought books full of complicated recipes and interesting pictures, and sometimes when they were really hungry they created vast banquets in their imagination — but at the end of the day they’d settle quite happily for egg and chips, if it was well done and maybe had a slice of tomato.”
“Neuticles”, by the way, were not originally designed for pet or owner self-esteem reasons but to cheat in dog shows. The Kennel Club follows the teachings of Deuteronomy 23: “He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.”
Stephen Neill said,
March 28, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Ben said – “The Kennel Club follows the teachings of Deuteronomy 23: “He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.”
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Good gracious – Bible study on GUBU! Slap me somebody! I must be dreaming!
Justin said,
March 28, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Here’s the thing — as far as I can tell, everyone concerned, from the plastic surgeons, beauticians, etc. to the concerned people on the other side, all tend to perpetuate any old crap about the extreme treatments that *other* plastic surgery practitioners elsewhere in the world are up to.
Any coverage is good coverage, I suppose.
Sarah said,
March 28, 2007 at 6:04 pm
OMG! I just checked – that is TRUE. How weird.
Mark Crowley said,
March 28, 2007 at 7:16 pm
I hope my cat does not read this. He costs us enough without getting fake wotsits to replace the ones the vet removed while he slept.
Leon said,
March 29, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Ben Said:
There sure as hell are very few men fantasizing about women having their toes cut up.
I bet there are enough for a website.
ben said,
March 30, 2007 at 6:48 am
Sarah, for shame! As if I would tell you anything other than the unvarnished truth, whether about about dog testicle implants, or the Bible, or both.
By the by, there is plastic surgery and there is plastic surgery. Few would begrudge those who construct faces for children born with cleft lips, who do what they can to repair the damage caused by serious burns or amputations, or who attempt to recreate the breasts of women who have had masectomies. That’s all plastic surgery, too.