The My Beautiful Mommy Controversy
Forget the stories about Paris Hilton swearing she'll never get breast augmentation and Kate Beckingsale swearing she's never had it. Those stories are tame compared to what's the new Flavor of the Week.
In a children's book, aimed at four to seven year olds, a mother tries to reassure her daughter about why she's getting a tummy tuck, breast augmentation (implied by the pictures showing the mother's breasts change from the beginning to the end), and nose job. These are all part of the "mommy makeover."
Written by a Florida board-certified cosmetic surgeon named Michael Salzhuaer, My Beautiful Mommy is advertised as a way to explain to young kids why their mom 1) is coming home bruised and bandaged, 2) will look different, and 3) why the mommy makeover was necessary in the first place. Dr. Salzhuaer states that it was written in response to witnessing kids coming into the office with their mothers when they were looking into having cosmetic surgery. The book has the typical text written for young kids, as well as pictures of what has been described as a mother shaped like a Barbie doll, and a doctor ("Dr. Michael") who looks a little like Superman. By the end of the book, the daughter is pleased with the fact that her mom looks "even more" beautiful.
Helpful or Hurtful?
Some mothers have found the book to be helpful. One mother, Gabriela Acosta, saw the manuscript when she went to talk to Salzhauer. She didn't know how to explain to her son what was going to happen to her. Acosta states that it helped her son move from scared to excited.
President of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Richard D'Amico, gives the book mixed reviews. On the one hand, the believes that the book lets prospective patients know that there is a way to tell their kids what's going on - if they choose to tell their kids anything. On the other hand, he believes the breasts of the mother look "overdone." Most mothers, he claims, are only looking for restoration. He apparently had no comment on Super Doctor Michael's picture.
Those who find the book problematic include both the popular blog sites www.feministing.com and www.huffingtonpost.com. Along with these sites, and their readers, others are wondering, why, on God's green earth, is there a book being marketed to children about cosmetic surgery? While some find the book a little funny, others seem to be appalled. The central argument is wondering why children as young as four-years-old should know about these procedures. The counterargument being, isn't it better to explain to children why their mothers are resting for a few days, seem a little groggy, and might look different than ignore it? Well, sure, we'll buy that.
Yet, perhaps cosmetic surgery's media fascination has jumped the shark. We're already inundated with who-is-getting-what-done all the time. We're told teens are getting cosmetic surgery at a (seemingly) astronomical rate. There are stories about 13-year-olds who want breast augmentation for their birthdays, mothers who tell their kids they may have to consider these things to get ahead in the future, and now a book explaining this to kids who have just begun their education.
Appalling? Perhaps. Genius? Eh. Sign of the times? Definitely.
But, once upon a time, a book called Where Do I Come From? appeared so that parents could read to their kids a nice, non-scientific, un-pornographic description of sex. There might have been biology and facts of life there, and it's certainly more natural than cosmetic surgery. But in the end, isn't it a mother's prerogative to wonder about cosmetic surgery? After all, it's the kid's fault their mom needs a mommy makeover in the first place.
If you are interested in mommy makeovers or other cosmetic surgery procedures, please contact an experienced cosmetic surgeon in your area. Labels: beauty, breast augmentation, culture, media, rhinoplasty, tummy tuck
Is the Condition an Addiction?
It's been said that repeat customers are the bedrock of a successfully run business. You get them in, and you get them to come back – again and again if you can. This works pretty well with retail companies and some restaurants. But what about cosmetic surgery? There are estimates that put the number of people returning for further cosmetic procedures after their first at around 33%. What is unclear is how many of these people are coming back in for Botox or other injectable fillers, which need to be redone if you want to keep the look, and how many of them are coming in for a nose job, then breast augmentation, and then a tummy tuck.
When we think about the types of people who are the best customers cosmetic surgeons can have, we automatically think of movies stars. And many of them have had numerous procedures done. This seems to be par for the course if you're a movie star. You might also know of a few "normal" people who like what their surgeon did with their eyelids and now want that doctor to work on two or three other places on their body.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
When people hear the old platitudes that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or that beauty is only skin deep, many take it to heart. However, there are some whose eyes see a skewed perspective of what is beautiful about their self, and it's often only the skin they can imagine, and they are the only beholder of that beauty.
BDD is a mental disorder is a mental condition where individuals are excessively preoccupied with how their body looks. The physical imperfections they find may be real, to an extent, but are often imagined. And they imagine that they look awful all the time. No matter how often people with BDD are reassured that they look fine they'll just find something else wrong.
Having BDD in today's culture can't be easy. Everywhere we look there are pictures of beautiful people in television and magazine ads, or in the movies. Or perhaps culture helps to perpetuate and drive the number of people with BDD up.
It's been noted time and again that the number of people getting cosmetic surgery has gone up dramatically. We hear stories of young people getting breast or cheek augmentation because they want to look like the stars. However, how do we know when one person's desire for rhinoplasty is just another procedure in a laundry list of things they want to get done? Furthermore, how do we know their nose job is the only one they're going to get? When do the cosmetic surgeons step in and say enough is enough?
Why Worry?
We've noted here that it is important to be in the right frame of mind when going in for cosmetic surgery. We've also noted that it is an individual choice. However, there are a small number of people who believe that cosmetic surgery is the only way to true happiness. They believe that their lives will be so much better after they get their eyes done or their chin augmented. But maybe these people have a problem. Because what we're seeing is these people are just the latest casualties of either a) societal pressure to look good, or b) a new thing to be addicted to, much like drugs (though, obviously, not exactly), or perhaps both. And many people have come out of the procedure with a feeling of buyer's remorse.
The Most Visual Examples
Look for botched, or excessive, cosmetic surgery on the Internet, and you'll find a number of websites that have a page on "the worst." These examples are never of our neighbors and friends, but of some pretty famous people. And the most popular bad examples are Joan Rivers, Michael Jackson, and the infamous "cat woman," Jocelyn Wildenstein. These people haven't just had one botched surgery that the media focuses on; these people have had more surgeries than we can count. It might be understandable if some people feel a sense of schadenfreude when looking at how horrible some stars behave and look, but it must be remembered that there is possibly an underlying illness they have. One might question why they keep going in for the surgery, but another question might be, who performs these surgeries know full well there might be a problem? We'll save that for another day.
Until then, if you would like to know how cosmetic surgery can help to enhance one or more areas of your body to improve the way you look, please contact an experienced cosmetic surgeon in your area. Also, remember that responsibility regarding this decision belongs to you.
Labels: beauty, body dysmorphic disorder, body image, celebrity, media
Beautiful at any Size: Conclusion
 Walking through the grocery store, one is visually overwhelmed by images of the female body. Slender, sonsie female bodies, no less, bodies differentiated only by the colors of their gleaming coifs. Month after month, the parade goes on, and even if the identity of the bodies change (which you can only tell by looking at the captions), the bodies themselves seem consistent. A slightly different nose, a quirky smile, perhaps, but that is all the difference. Even women who are markedly different from the overwhelming trend are strapped, taped, dressed, shot, then airbrushed to match the ideal. And for the magazines it is an ideal. It is their stock in trade, because magazines sell with promises of how to be as beautiful, as sexy, as slim and curvy, as the women on the cover. And the tactic works, because so many women's bodies are so far from that ideal. Whether a woman finds her hips are too big or her breasts are too small, she is likely to feel less attractive by comparison. It is partly as a result of the magazines that so many women have body-image problems. But is this really beauty? Is the magazine ideal a barometer of what really makes a woman beautiful? It is one way for a woman to be beautiful, yes, but it isn't the only way. With the saturation and repetition of the magazine ideal, it's easy to forget that there are other ways for women to look that are also good. By looking at an array of artists who present different ideals, it is possible to see that we don't have to feel bad about our bodies because they don't match the magazine ideal of beauty. From Gustav Klimt, who clothes his waif-like figures in concretized emotion, to Peter Paul Rubens, who disrobes the pure bodily pleasures of ample flesh, each of these artists takes a different tack on what is the essence of beauty, idealizing a different form of woman. Are these figures more realistic than the magazines? No, in fact, possibly less so, as, for example, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingre's Grand Odalisque has an extra vertebra in the elegance of her overlong back. But by looking at different ideals, we can hopefully break the stranglehold the modern mass-media has on beauty. Even more important, looking at these artists, the one commonality that shines through is that beauty is not so much a result of bodily features such as breasts or buttocks, but of a more sublime combination of posture, poise, grace, and confidence. The Waifs of Gustav Klimt Jack Vettriano: The Sliver of Nostalgia Eternal Youth and Virginal Desire The Dangerous Sexuality of John Williams Waterhouse Classical Norms The Pinup and Modern Femininity The Odalisque The Baroque and the Beautiful Labels: art, beauty
The Baroque and the Beautiful
Although it is definitely true that narrow hips have a universal appeal, there is a brief period when Western culture became fascinated with really big women, not Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, voluptuous pin-up big, but really big women. The most famous artist of the period created the iconic vision of zaftig loveliness, and we nowadays describe women of this build with the adjective Rubenesque. Peter Paul Rubens is famous for his figures of great girth that also project loveliness and sensuousness. Although large by today's standards, Ruben's baroque visions are ones of pure corporeal joy, promising the viewer with indulgence pleasures of the flesh as they have so obviously and habitually indulged. Before I begin my discussion, I think Michael Gill's words best convey the overall spirit of Rubens' work: "No one ever caught the rosy bloom of healthy skin, the shimmering quiver of well fed flesh with such lip-smacking skill. His women are displayed like great compotes of cream and exotic fruits from the Indies—kumquats and soursops and apricots, the flesh of melons and oranges from Seville." The secret to Rubens' painting is that the people, although heavy, look healthy and strong, and this is one of the strongest messages anyone should get from this blog, that being beautiful means, first and foremost being healthy, and that pursuing the latter will almost always yield the former.  That Rubens' figures are meant to be desirable is seen from the prominence of mythico-erotic themes, such as in this painting of Leda and the Swan, one of the many disturbing stories of Zeus' seduction of mortals and nymphs. As significant and commonplace as this story is, it is always a disconcerting subject to see portrayed. Rubens' painting is especially perverse, because it leaves very little to the imagination. Leda is pretty clearly astride the swan, which is also tenderly nibbling her lip. What recommends Rubens' nymph is the healthy glow of her skin, contrasted sharply against the dun of the swan and the rich red of the cloth behind her, but also the pale white of the sheet. Ample thighs and stomach contrast with relatively small breasts in this lusciously curvaceous figure.
 Rubens' Venus is different from most we have seen. More corpulent than the classical norm, the primary erotic association of the figure is in her back and her face. The breasts are erased as an erotic focus. Unlike classical figures as well as the paintings of Waterhouse and Parrish, Rubens' Venus has a soft, round chin, although her nose is well-defined against the frame of the mirror and in the reflection. The reflection carries an invitation to the viewer to watch her in the knowing expression of her eyes and just the faintest glimmer of a smile threatening to appear on her red lips. The way the entire painting draws our eyes again and again to the reflection forces us to identify the goddess of love and beauty primarily with her face, reminding us that beauty is as much an attitude of the mind as an attribute of the body.
Labels: art, beauty, Rubens, skin care, voluptuous
The Odalisque
The odalisque was a common subject in paintings of the 19 th century. The origin of the term is the Turkish "Odalik," describing a virgin female slave, but in Western usage the term is later used to describe a luxurious concubine or prostitute. The traditional posture of the odalisque in painting is reclining, normally with her back to the observer, putting emphasis to a greater or lesser extent on the back and buttocks.  The most famous odalisque is Le Grande Odalisque (1814) by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Similar to the classical norm, there is less emphasis placed on the largeness of the breasts, which are present, rounded, but not given attention. Instead, emphasis is placed on the buttocks, which are quite large, and made to seem even larger by the way they are partly concealed by the placement of the arms. The stomach is shown with ripples and folds. Unlike classical sculptors, however, there is not the same emphasis on profile in the odalisque, here diminished by the ¾ face view, which causes the nose to be lost somewhat in the blending to shadow.
 This Odalisque (1874) was painted by Jules Joseph Lefebvre, and is one of the most famous and traditional. Note how the painting takes emphasis off the primary features of the face, such as the nose, even to the extent of concealing the chin completely. Instead, the only major facial feature that receives attention is the ear, which is highlighted by the hair heaped atop the head. The woman's back is smooth, with no sign of the ribs, and in the lower back there are two dimples adding extra emphasis to the fat present in the woman's buttocks and thighs.
 Although the most classic forms of the odalisque emphasize the shapeliness of body, the earlier The Blonde Odalisque (1752) by François Boucher emphasizes the corporeality of the sensual body. While Ingres and Lefebvre emphasize the body's curves against dark material and shadows, Boucher uses pale fabrics and the posture to somewhat erase the curves of the body, especially the breasts, but even the buttocks so that the thigh is the most prominent portion of the woman's anatomy.
Labels: art, beauty, body contouring, François Boucher, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Jules Joseph Lefebvre, liposuction, odalisque
Classical Norms
 The Greek and Romans gave us so many of our cultural foundations in terms of law, government, philosophy, literature, and architecture that it should not be surprising that they also established many of our norms in terms of our concepts of feminine beauty. It is easy to see the influence of classical statuary such as this Roman copy of a Greek original representation of Diana, found at Gabii in Italy. The original sculptor was Praxitilies, and the original sculpture was made in the 4th century BCE, although this copy was not sculpted until the 1st Century CE. The way her draperies conceal her form is very much like Parrish's use, however, she has, overall, a softer body. Note how the fleshiness we saw in the legs of Waterhouse's women is here also evident in Diana's arms, so, although this figure is largely concealed (appropriate for one of the three virgin goddesses of classical mythology), we have a sense that this figure has more fat than those in Waterhouse's paintings. Look at the face, too, and there is more evidence. Although this statue has a strong, straight nose, the chin and cheeks are very curved, perhaps even sagging slightly from the weight of fat in the neck. A clearer idea of the classical ideals of feminine beauty might be gained from statuary focusing on a less chaste goddess: Aphrodite. In this case, the Aphrodite of Cnidus, another copy of Praxiteles. We should ignore the head and arms in this sculpture, since they are all restorations, but the torso and thighs give us plenty of information. The body is soft, with a relatively narrow waist, but wide hips. The figure has a slight paunch, and the thick thighs touch. The latter is a common source of anxiety among women, who have seen magazine of swimsuit models whose thighs are so slender that they do not touch when the woman stands.
 If we consider the rear of a different copy of the Praxiteles statue, we can see that the derriere has a similar corpulence. Venus' butt is relatively large, round, and thick. There are folds at the top of the thighs, indicating again that this woman has fat, although she has no cellulite. The back also shows a significant amount of fat, as the ribs are completely concealed, and the shoulder blades are only vaguely hinted beneath the smoothness of the skin.
Then, if we consider the most famous classical statue of all, the Venu s de Milo, which maintains most of the ideals of the other statues. A corpulent body, although in this case with some abdominal definition, the soft chin, and, as we have not mentioned, the small breasts. Small breasts were common in classical statuary, contributing to the charge that modern Western society has fetishized the breast as an erogenous object. Although it is true that modern Western society idealizes larger breasts than the classical period, it is not true that breasts are not considered erotic in other cultures. Evidence of this can be seen in the Song of Songs, and I will discuss it more when we turn to non-Western representations of beauty. Labels: art, beauty, body image, breast augmentation, Classical Greek and Roman
The dangerous sexuality of John Williams Waterhouse
The Pre-Raphaelite painters, including Waterhouse, are praised for the rich colors of their artwork and the loftiness of their themes, which represent characters from ancient mythology and high poetry. Although his paintings share many common features with Maxfield Parrish, Waterhouse's subjects are in no way asexual. They are figures of striking beauty, a beauty that is the form of deadly temptation.  The Siren, of course, is the most familiar form of feminine tempter. Her voice draws ships off course, forcing them to crash into the rocks, drowning their crews. Waterhouse's siren, lacking a voice, must show her temptation with her body. There are some clear similarities between Waterhouse and Parrish, especially in their emphasis on profile. Here, Waterhouse works harder to emphasize the shapely nose and strong chin by contrasting them with her russet-red hair. Waterhouse also emphasizes the line of her jaw, showing the importance of a taut skin and muscles of the neck. Although similar, the bodies of Waterhouse's figures are fleshier than those of Parrish. Consider the extended leg of the woman on the left in Contentment and the legs of the siren. See how much more fleshy depression we see in the siren's leg. Waterhouse also shows us the small rolls of fat under the siren's small breast and the feminine paunch of her stomach. This woman has a very realistic body, but one that is so beautiful the drowning sailor's eyes are wide with awe, completely absorbed by the sight of her.
 In Waterhouse's more famous Hylas and the Nymphs, we see a very similar beauty replicated many times. The bright skin of the nymphs contrasts sharply against the dark water and vegetation and also the dun color of Hylas' weather-browned hide. Again notice the nose, chin, and neck of the central nymph. In this painting, it the women's eyes we see, and though their slender hands are on Hylas' arm and his indigo chiton, it is their eyes that pull him--and us--in.
In Lamia, Waterhouse shows this Libyan queen before her transformation into the devouring half-serpent. In her case, her beauty is her own doom. The only hint we have of her future fate is the python-patterned shawl in her lap. Interestingly, Waterhouse foreshadows the dangerous nature of her beauty by showing that she herself is entranced by it as she stares at her reflection in the still pool. Labels: art, beauty, body image, John Waterhouse, mythology
Eternal Youth and Virginal Desire
A common misconception, and one perpetuated by many industries, is that "beautiful" and "sexy" are synonyms. An even more common confusion is between the "sensual" and the "sexual." When considering cosmetic surgery procedures, however, it is important to make the distinction between these terms. If you want to look beautiful, you don't necessarily want to look sexy. And if you want to look sensual, it doesn't necessarily mean emphasizing your sexuality. Maxfield Parrish is an ideal artist for making the distinction between the two concepts. His figures are beautiful without being sexy, sensual without being sexual. Although Vettriano's paintings often portray a narrative with sex as its obvious end and goal, filled with figures characterized by lust, Parrish's figures are free of lust, although they are not free of desire. The figure in Ecstasy, for example, is full of passion as she holds back her hair in the wind and raises her young face to the sky. Although Parrish is sometimes referred to as a neo-classical painter or illustrator, this is based on his use of classical (really Romantic) backdrops for his figures. The proportions of his figures are more slender than the classical norm, with thinner arms, legs, and torsos consistent with his themes of timeless youth.  More than sexual desire, his paintings with multiple figures usually evoke feelings of friendship, and the desire is not for fiery consumption, but for airy continuation. In Contentment, for example, these young friends are where they wish to be. The rosy complexion of their smooth, youthful skin reflects the soft light of morning, and their figures are positioned languidly in poses they might maintain for hours.
In The Lute Players, you can see the eagerness with which the women attend to one another's conversation as they pause from play. Note the well-proportioned profile of the woman on her stomach, the well-shaped nose, feminine but not weak. Or the definition of the chin of the woman on the left. Their faces have much more curvature than their bodies. The casual bunching of their garments conceals their figures, obviating the need for intense body contouring or liposuction, although these figures are unlikely to need it, of course. Maxfield Parrish gives us a world without sex, but one that is as laden with desire and with sensuality as any ever painted. Labels: anti-aging, art, beauty, satisfaction
Jack Vettriano: The Sliver of Nostalgia
Jack Vettriano is a contemporary painter whose popularity continues to grow. As it should be expected to, since his paintings are about, well, according to him, "sad, unhappy people who are driven by lust," which tends to be a popular subject among boringly happy people. A self-taught Scottish artist, Vettriano's paintings capture a world that never was and never shall be, always at its best moments. Consider Along Came a Spider, which captures a noir-ish scene at the moment of highest excitement in a relationship: just before the couple meets. The woman lounges on the couch in a black cocktail dress and long black gloves. She is slender, her legs long and thin, her collarbone clearly visible in light and shadow, the joint of her right shoulder clearly visible. Whereas Klimt's figures project emotion, Vettriano's figures absorb it, like black holes, repressing feeling to be replaced with incipient passion. Vettriano's figures are just snapshots in a cycle of unhappiness, but they are shown at their best moments, the moments that make it all seem worthwhile. He shows us figures dressed up (or just undressed) at their best, or in moments of romantic beauty, as in Beautiful Dreamer, which should remind us that beauty is not an all-the-time thing. It is like a sacred river meandering through field and forest, sometimes glittering in sunlight, sometimes hidden. "Late nights and bad mornings," as Vettriano describes them, are the consequences of this life, but he rarely shows them. It is important, though, for us to remember that they lurk unseen. The consequences of this kind of life are darkened eyes and furrowed brows; wrinkles, sunken cheeks, tight lips. Women in this category of beauty often need touch-ups between these moments, especially with injectable treatments. Botox cosmetic can counter the creased brow from morning-after anger. Autologous fat injections can fill cheeks and the hollows around the eyes. Restylane can be used in lip augmentation to keep the lips from growing too narrow and masculine. Labels: art, beauty, body image, injectable fillers
The Waifs of Gustav Klimt
The secret to Klimt's enduring popularity is his ability to take the internal life of his figures and project it into an external image. Klimt works with bright colors and abstract shapes to create a visual image of the emotional state felt by the people he represents. His most popular image is also his most extreme in this regard. In The Kiss, Klimt reduces his human figures to their absolute minimum, in terms of realistic representation. We see their hands, their faces, a shoulder, some feet, mostly focusing on the areas of intense awareness during the moment of kissing. When Klimt does portray a more complete human figure, as in this detail from Sea Serpents, it is most likely a waify, almost emaciated woman, the sort of person we might mistake for the anorexic actress, and it shows how women with a bad body image can imagine they are overweight even when they are deathly thin. In a body of this size, any amount of fat can look out of proportion, such as the woman's thigh. But Klimt shows us this woman is comfortable, so secure that the strength of her eyes challenges us to enter the roiling sea of her emotion. Although women of this body type are among the most common candidates for breast augmentation, Klimt shows us in this Portrait of Emile Floge that proportion can be easily maintained with the proper clothing, clothes that give volume and femininity to a slender frame. Labels: art, beauty, body image, breast augmentation, klimt
Beautiful at any size: introduction
I would like to focus on a growing problem in the United States: the negative body image many women maintain of themselves. Many women who are very attractive, who are loved by husbands, boyfriends, fathers, mothers, and children, cannot love themselves because when they look at their body, they cannot see themselves as others see them. Instead, they focus only on the things they feel bad about, such as large thighs or small breasts. The conventional wisdom is that this is a result of modern media, which confronts women on a daily basis with images of beautiful models and screen sirens to which they cannot hope to compare. I do not believe that media is the cause, but I do believe that it contributes because of its insistence on a particular standard of beauty. It tells women that there is one and only one way to be beautiful. Often, the standard rotates around one or more "fad girls," as the entire media engine works as a single creature to promote the new movie by Jessica Alba or Halle Berry, and plasters her image on everything everywhere, saying this is beautiful. The cosmetic surgery industry is often criticized for feeding into the general desire for perfect bodies that women feel, then utilizing it for its own profit by encouraging women to undergo unnecessary risks from optional surgeries. This is a charge that pricks my conscience, but I do not believe that it is entirely true. Cosmetic surgeons don't want patients with bad body images, because these patients will never be satisfied with the work they receive. Cosmetic surgeons want patients to come in with a good body image who may have one or more problem areas that they would like to address. To help foster positive body images in women, I have planned a series of blogs on artists who use their vision to see and represent the beauty in women of all sizes. I will start tomorrow with Gustav Klimt. Labels: art, beauty, body image, celebrity
Slim Waist Is Universal in Beauty
Although beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, research reminds us that all human beholders have essentially the same eye. Ever since evolutionary psychologists turned their gaze to the question of female beauty, they noted a striking correlation. Almost all of the most beautiful women, the sex symbols from many ages, had one thing in common despite the apparently changeable nature of fashion. Nearly all women considered significantly beautiful had a waist-to-hip ratio of .7 to .8. For a long time, it was considered that this was a product of Western media, a phenomenon localized in both space and time. This conclusion was based at least partly on the discovery of the Venus of Willendorf, a stone-age statuette that ostensibly portrayed the ideal of beauty from the period it was made, between 24,000-22,000 BCE. However, the purpose of the statuette is completely unknown: it may be actually a weight-loss totem, intended to appease the Fat Goddess, who then doesn't punish the bearer with fat. This isn't much crazier than some of the diet claims I've seen on late-night TV, and it brings up the point that we shouldn't be too hasty to make judgements based on very fragmentary evidence. Much more reliable is data from cultural sources that are plentiful enough to give context to one another. For example, a great deal of Greco-Roman sculpture remains, enough to give statistical significance to findings, and with context that shows these statues were intended to be beautiful, such as naming the statue Venus (rather than having that moniker applied post facto). Studies of these statues indicates that they also share the same waist-to-hip ratio as dominated Western sex symbols. Of course, the Greco-Roman culture is the foundation of Western art, so it makes sense that we might derive our values of beauty from their statuary. But a more recent study of 345,000 texts from the United States, Britain, China, and India, from the first century to the present confirmed the earlier hypothesis. According to the study, the ideal of the slim waist has been relatively constant over history. Although the breasts are the most commonly mentioned feature, the waistline is also a prominent feature, and is always referred to as narrow when beautiful. This holds true for both men and women. This cultural study follows a biological study that women with "hourglass figures," i.e. large breasts, narrow waists, and wide hips, had much higher levels of hormones that predict their ability to become pregnant. Together, these studies provide both the evidence of universality for the narrow waist, as well as an evolutionary mechanism selecting for the trait, and they explain the prominence of several types of cosmetic surgery procedures. It explains, for example, the popularity of liposuction for men and women. And abdominoplasty is also popular among both sexes. Furthermore, the perennial popularity of breast augmentation, not only in the United States but around the world is also given credibility by these studies, not to mention the increasing popularity of buttock augmentation. Labels: beauty, evolutionary psychology, liposuction
A Narrow Compass! and yet there / Dwelt all that's good and all that's fair!
The above lines from Edmund Waller's 17th century poem are truer even than he imagined. According to a new study published in the journal of Evolution and Human Behavior, women with curves are more intelligent than skinnier women. Not only that, but the women tended to produce smarter children. The researchers studied a sample size of 16,000 women and girls, giving them cognitive tests. The results showed that not only did women do better on the tests as the difference between their hips and waist increased, but the children of these women did better as well. Researchers speculated on a mechanism that links the two, that the fatty acid deposits found on the hips and elsewhere could help maintain a higher reserve of Omega-3 acids, which have been shown to help developmental health, reduce deposits that clog arteries, and reduce the risk of cancer. It has also been intimated that the acids may be helpful in combating depression and anxiety.  The study also claimed that the combination of an attractive (i.e. fecund) figure was combined with the attraction of intelligence. This finding is a blow to conventional wisdom that women cannot be both smart and attractive (wisdom pithily pilloried in Dorothy Parker's couplet: "Men seldom make passes / At girls who wear glasses"), and calls attention to curvaceous and smart women, such as the voluptuous British cook, Nigella Lawson. Lawson has a degree in Medieval and Modern Languages from Oxford, and is the author of six books, including Feast, and the aptly titled How to Be a Domestic Goddess, probably referring to Hestia or Hera, not Venus, although that might also be appropriate.
Some researchers are not convinced. Noting that there are many complex and more proximate possible causes, researchers claim that a link between fatty hips and fatty acids in the bloodstream and the development of intelligence is tenuous at best. furthermore, these same researchers are unconvinced by the notion that the waist-to-hip ratio is all that significant a determiner of attractiveness. They claim it is relatively low on a man's list of priorities when looking for a potential partner. However, this second objection is based on survey data, and one of the essential principles of evolutionary psychology is that most of what goes on in our minds is hidden from us, making surveys dubious evidence. This principle has long been known by sex researchers as well, and is pithily summed up by cognitive researchers as "Men say one thing, and date another."  Another curvaceous woman who felt the conflict between her looks and her intelligence is Catherine Zeta-Jones, who has said, "I used to go around looking as frumpy as possible because it was inconceivable you could be attractive as well as smart."
But the truth, apparently, is very different. The truth is that a well-contoured body not only looks good, but looks smart as well. Practicing body contouring in Dallas, Texas, Dr. Vasdev Rai, is an expert at liposuction, tummy tucks, and other techniques to help you achieve the curves of a scholar. Labels: beauty, celebrity, evolutionary psychology, liposuction, poetry, tummy tuck, voluptuous
Here She Is, Miss Artificial Beauty
So there are many things interesting about China's Miss Artificial Beauty pageant. One is that it exists at all, that the Chinese seem eager to promote and accept something we in this country are still a little leery of: cosmetic surgery not as a prophylactic or a defense for self-esteem as we age, but as a conscious program of bodily manipulation in the quest for true beauty. Another interesting facet of the pageant is the range of contestants. The contestants raged in age from 17 (which is generally considered too young for plastic surgery in this country) to 62, and although the winner was at the younger end of this spectrum (at age 22), this range affirms that women are able to be and remain beautiful as they age, unlike more traditional beauty pageants, where most of the contestants are below legal drinking age. The contestants also included a transsexual, who would not of course have been allowed to compete in this country. In fact, she might not even be allowed to use the ladies' restroom (but, then again, neither are some women). Is this likely to increase acceptance of transsexuals in this country? Unlikely, but it's also unlikely to hurt. The women in the pageant seemed, overall, to have fairly subtle modifications. It's hard to say what, exactly, they had done. In a few cases, it seems the women might have had facelifts, from the way their skin is taut over their cheekbones, and since they are mostly very slender, many of them probably had some combination of liposuction to various areas. A couple have obviously had breast augmentations. But of course what's most interesting about the pageant is its ties to the growing popularity of cosmetic surgery in China. The practice was banned in the country until 2001, but since then the industry has been growing rapidly, and last year it took in $2.4 billion dollars, more than one fifth of what was spent in this country last year. With the continued surge in the Chinese economy, this could be yet another area in which the country that Mao built outstrips us. But if you'd prefer to see a local doctor, contact the Cosmetic Surgery Directory today to get in touch with one in your area. Labels: beauty, china, pageant
Alberto Vargas: Exemplary Artist
Alberto Vargas is one of the most well-known and well-respected pin-up artists. His art endures today, and has been the subject of several major exhibitions, including one at the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas.
Although he painted prodigiously for almost 60 years, his most influential work was done during the 1940s for work published in Esquire Magazine. These works, known as "Varga Girls," a name adapted to make it sound even more exotic than the Peruvian-born artist's actual name, became favorites among GIs during World War II.
 Vargas' work replaced that of artist George Petty, whose "Petty Girl" had previously become a feature of the magazine. Although similar in poses and basic design principles, Varga Girls represented significant improvements artistically over the Petty Girl. The Petty Girl is naturally well-proportioned, with a tucked tummy, accentuated by a slightly bent posture, with long legs made to seem longer by the use of Pointe shoes. The girls are brightly lit from many angles, minimizing shadow, and they are generally smiling.
 In contrast, the Varga Girls have much more depth, both physically and in their implied character. Unlike Petty's paintings, which show women in largely planar poses, Vargas' paintings show women whose bodies move forward and backward as well as side-to-side in the field of the image. Vargas' paintings are full of shadow, allowing his women to conceal as much as they reveal, and their expressions are often more complex, from happy and playful to mischievous or even brooding. Unlike the Petty Girl, some of Vargas' women are shown with actual folds in their stomach as they bend, giving them realism that augments, not diminishes, their beauty. Vargas treats his women with respect, allowing their individual characters to show through, a significant difference between the Varga Girls, who are allowed to be separate individuals, and the Petty Girl, who essentially embodies the idea that all women are equivalent.
If you are looking to have cosmetic surgery done, contact the Cosmetic Surgery Directory to find a skilled plastic surgeon in your area. We can help you find one whose body contouring artistry is most like that of Alberto Vargas and will let your character show, rather than one like Petty, who simply wants to make you into a flat image of idealized femininity. And certainly, you do not want to use a cartoonist like Jack Cole, whose women are breast-augmented caricatures, shallow, materialistic, and vain.
All images in this post are courtesy of the Pin-Up files, where you will find representative work from these and many other artists on display and for sale. Labels: art, beauty, breast augmentation, cosmetic surgery
Jorja Fox: Anticosmetic Beauty?
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has been a hit television show for CBS since 2000. It has spawned numerous spinoffs, including a New York and a Miami version. And with the show's popularity, its stars have also grown in popularity, including the actress Jorja Fox, who plays the character Sara Sidle on the show.
What is interesting about Jorja fox is how she has become a sex symbol, appearing on fansites and wallpapers surprisingly scantily-clad, despite the fact that she is the antithesis of what we might describe as a Las Vegas beauty. There is no way that anyone would mistake Jorja Fox for a chorus girl. Though she is slim, she is small-breasted and has a masculine face characterized by slender lips and a firm chin. She is also visibly older than the feminine ideal of beauty, and many shots on the show accentuate the wrinkles and bags around her eyes and her heavy smile-lines.
This leads us to wonder what exactly makes a woman a sex symbol. Is the ideal of beauty changing, starting us into a period of androgynous ideals such as seems to come up periodically (as in the 1920s and 1970s)? Or are we really sold on the character, such that once we are convinced that we know this woman from watching her go through so many crises and revelations on television?
If either of these are true, it could have profound consequences for the cosmetic surgery industry. Labels: beauty, celebrity, TV
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