art BY Grace Ciacciarelli
Beauty for Myself?
written BY Elena Torres-Pepito
I think that by the time you’re able to identify repeating patterns on YouTube “My Plastic Surgery Story” videos and are inclined to write an analysis of them, it’s pretty clear that you’ve failed to have a productive summer. As I spent my July evenings watching video after video of women talking about their procedures, I noticed how they justified them by claiming that their decision was for their own personal happiness. For the most part, they denied any outside influence. This irritated me.
You don’t pay thousands of dollars to get your boobs cut open and plastic placed inside of them because you think the surgery alone will lead to personal fulfillment! I wanted to scream at the screen. A straighter nose or fuller lips just couldn’t be the missing piece in a person’s search for happiness. Physical changes, in a vacuum, won’t make you happier, smarter or kinder. Rather, it is the way people react to the more conventionally attractive you that leads to an improved
quality of life. People know that it matters how others view them. So why can’t they admit that they change their appearance to control how others judge them? As I wondered about people’s apparent reluctance to acknowledge social influences, I realized that I’d been doing the same thing. I’d been judging these women as if I hadn’t spent months insisting that I put on makeup every single morning because I thought it was a “fun way to express myself.” I maintained this excuse as if I were unaware of the difference in the way people treated me when I had makeup on versus when I was walking around with my bare face, acne, under-eye bags, and all. I know makeup helps me look better. Sure, it’s fun. Sure, I buy more lipsticks than any man would ever be able to differentiate between. My makeup habits aren’t 100 percent for other people, but I realize, for the most part, they are. This isn’t illogical. I know that it’s better for
me, especially as a woman in a patriar-
Dialogue
