The Plastic Surgery Debate | Heather Peto, Julia Long, Miles Berry

[stumbledin]

(Have not watched this but thought some might be interested)

Blurb says:

We think being authentic is about remaining true to who we are, and many of us consider plastic surgery as a the preserve of tabloid celebritis rather than people like us. But from Caitlin Jenner to Chelsea Manning, plastic surgery is now seen as a means to ensure our bodies reflect authentic inner lives. Should we embrace cosmetic transformation as a way of becoming closer to who we really are, or who we might wish to become? Or should we be seeking to end society's obsession with appearance?

Julia Long: Dr Julia Long is a radical lesbian feminist activist and the author of Anti-Porn: The Resurgence of Anti-Pornography Feminism

Heather Peto: Heather Peto is trans activist and 2017 Labour parliamentary candidate for Rutland and Melton.

Miles Berry: Miles Berry is an aesthetic surgeon and one of the field leaders in reconstructive surgery. His expertise is in abdominoplasty, breast augmentation, face lift, blepharoplasty, mastopexy, breast reduction, secondary breast surgery, liposuction, labiaplasty and transgender surgery, as well as a host of other non-surgical treatments.

The other thing that struck me was the moderator expressing surprise at the idea society is more gendered now than a few decades ago.

I would have thought that point was blatantly obvious. Even if you aren't old enough to remember the 709s and 80s surely you've seen films, music videos etc from the time?

I wonder if his surprise was feigned.

Would it be so obvious if you weren’t parenting a child? I found it very obvious as the mother of a girl who hated all things feminine. But I suspect, had I not been closely involved in shopping for children, it might have gone over my head.

I might have noticed more young women in hypersexualised clothing and rolled my eyes a bit. But that might just be fashion. The pressure is applied very early now and I only became aware of how much pressure when there were literally no clothes in the girl’s section my daughter would tolerate.

And does the trans guest actually think they pass?

Would it be so obvious if you weren’t parenting a child?

Good question.

Certainly I have also noticed adult fashions have become more gendered. Men rarely had beards in my childhood for example, so I'm not sure it would entirely have passed me by but certainly having children makes it more obvious.

My own were born in the mid and late 90s when sparkles and pink were less prevalent in clothing terms but gendered toys were already much more common than in my own childhood. Plus the school girl fashion for very short skirts was slightly irksome to me given we fought tooth and nail to be allowed to wear trousers to school at all, even if it was snowing.

Certainly the pressure on children to conform is much greater than for adults. It always strikes me as odd that society takes little girls and puts them in impractical, frilly dresses when most adult women slouch around in jeans and t-shirts. I guess I likely wouldn't be aware of that side of things if I didn't have children myself.