Thursday, October 17, 2013

Tabloids and Legitimatizing Plastic Surgery


Popular tabloid magazines normally glorify the way cosmetic surgery reconcile the way celebrities  are viewed by others as well as themselves. Earlier, when The Hills star, Heidi Montag shared her account of getting her first breast augmentation US magazine quoted her on the cover to introduce the article: “Boys used to always make fun of how flat I was.” Montag smiles on the cover beside the quote, glowing that she now has enough cleavage to escape verbal abuse from males. More recently, Teen Mom’s Farrah Abraham was featured on the cover of inTouch magazine which boasts that the reality star has undergone 3 surgeries by age 21.

 The same issue vaguely criticizes plastic surgery at a young age by highlighting pictures of Miley Cyrus, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Swift on the cover who are rumored to have had plastic surgeries as well.

This hypocritical view is not uncommon among the tabloid industry. When Heidi Montag proceeded undergo 10 plastic surgery procedures in one day, People magazine promoted the story with an exclusive photo shoot and coverage on the cosmetic splurge while including underlying critical language directed towards Montag such as “addicted” and “obsessed.” The tabloid industry shames female icons into looking their best, but does not hesitate to reprimand them for becoming possessed by the pressures to be superficially “perfect.”

Ultimately, celebrities like Abraham and Montag are airbrushed, perfected and encouraged by funds for their drastic actions toward their bodies. The inTouch article covering Farrah’s story quotes her saying, “I no longer have to hate on my nose!” Women look at female figures featured on tabloid magazines closely because they dictate certain standards for beauty and success in our culture. If these messages continue to endorse plastic surgery, than they are neglecting the major issue women and men face to accept the appearances of others and themselves.  

2 comments:

  1. I think that the tabloids will hook onto anything that will make them a buck, whether it is chastising a woman for surgery or applauding her for ten of them. The magazines we are reading today certainly give a false sense of normalcy to the idea that such extreme measures are normal and even warranted on beautiful young women. I mean a normal woman, teen would read these i am sure and think, if such actresses and models need to be put under the needle for perfection ho much more-so do I? It is a scary concept when you consider how much our daughters and sisters unfortunately look up to these girls and see them in a blase manner over major cosmetic surgery for something as simple as to loose a few inches or to reshape their nose or a boob job when their bodies are not even fully developed yet.

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  2. I guess what it comes down to is that these women and men have way too much money and a lot of free time. Almost anyone would change their imperfections if they had the ability to. Celebrities not only have the money for plastic surgery, but they also deal with pressures of being in the spotlight; they are seen by millions of people every day and judged solely off their appearance. The problem is that children look up to these celebrities and want to be just like them. This is why celebrities should learn to be thankful for what they have and be good role models instead of spending their money on superficial things.

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