If you missed ABC Four Corners searing expose of Australia’s cosmetic surgery industry and its callous disregard for the health and wellbeing of women, you really should take a look.
You will see how the cosmetic surgery industry preys on the body angst of vulnerable women and girls to get them to conform to harmful constructions of ‘beauty’ for profit. And the physical and mental injury to some of the brave victims who have come forward to tell their stories. Seeing healthy flesh being cut into, seeing deformed ‘enhanced’ breasts, seeing gigantic swollen backsides, and women’s bodies covered in bruises, was at times, like being witness to a crime scene. It’s time these barbarians were reigned in. And it’s time we overturned the dictats of a global beauty industry – aided and abetted by its celebrity handmaidens which lies to women about what beauty should look like. Reflecting on the program afterwards, I realized just how much I love looking into the unadulterated, natural faces of women and girls who have refused to succumb to false messages about how they should look and be in the world.
Beauty’s New Normal – Four Corners
I’ve been supporting this important petition initiative of my friends at Endangered Bodies since it launched. These games are grooming children as young as 9 to see themselves as needing to be fixed or altered in some way – creating new markets for the global industry. More than 140,000 concerned individuals have signed the petition, (extract below). Please add your name today.
…As a mother of a daughter and son, I truly hope that as my children grow, I can teach and show them how to respect their bodies and that they know their appearance does not determine their lovability, success or happiness in life. Parenting has never been easy but with technology constantly advancing and our society’s obsession with appearance and perfection intensifying all the time, I feel it has become even more challenging to raise self-assured, body confident and resilient children.
This became overwhelmingly evident when I stumbled across an app titled ‘Plastic Surgery Simulator’ for kids and I was horrified to learn that it was one of many. These free apps, targeting our children introduce the concept of cosmetic surgery far too young, encouraging children to look for faults and flaws in appearance and to see permanently, surgically changing a person’s features as a solution – as a game – which it most definitely is not. What upset me most was the accompanying descriptions which in a few words, manage to reduce our girls and boys to meaningless objects, where looking perfect is the most important attribute. These messages 100% contradict the values I am striving to instil in my children. They are not just a bit of fun, or a harmless game. There can be some very serious consequences on a child and their mental health as puberty and adolescence is a time where the risk of body dissatisfaction is great and apps such as these only further reinforce dissatisfaction and insecurities in our young people.
Having worked in the prevention of eating disorders for over 10 years, with The Butterfly Foundation and collaborating with the EMBodIED team at La Trobe University, I am passionate, dedicated and committed to challenging the unfair pressures and ideals that our young people – and my own children – are bombarded with. I am signing this petition as a parent, a person who has a lived experience and an advocate for positive body image, to encourage Apple, Google and Amazon to develop and implement policy and screening tools that prevent apps containing cosmetic surgery being made available to children.
The above images are examples of the many plastic surgery apps available on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store and Amazon App Store. These cosmetic surgery apps, which often feature animated characters, are being marketed to kids as young as nine, a target group that is already influenced by our body-toxic culture.
…Please sign this petition to ask Apple, Google and Amazon to implement a policy which is clear to every developer, that they will not accept any such apps that are targeted at children and make a commitment to protect the mental health of their young users.
See also:
When the price of beauty is death: cosmetic surgery can kill
