Plastic People

Why is our country obsessed with looking perfect? Why do we go to such great lengths to hang on to our youthful appearance? Why is looking "old" not considered attractive? Why do women want to surgically remove any evidence that they ever were pregnant?

Beth Moore states, "Today’s women face unrealistic expectations, and then we’re bombarded with unrealistic images every day, making us more and more insecure. We’re insecure about everything from our looks to our worth as women, from our relationships to our futures, and everythingelse in between. You name it, and we’re probably insecure about it." http://www.solonginsecurity.com/

These questions have been troubling me for some time now. I dont know how many times I have heard people around me saying that they cant wait until they are done having babies so they can "fix" their bodies. I usually tell jokes and try to make it seem funny but I am really heart broken on the inside. Where did this obsession with having the perfect body come from?

I am a huge fan of exercise and nutrition and being fit. Women should be healthy, they should strive to stay at a healthy weight and look attractive for their husbands. I also think that husbands should do their part to make women, especially the women who bore their children, feel like they are beautiful.

Forgive me for being crass, but men should speak up to their wives, let them know that saggy boobs, saggy skin, stretch marks and all of the other things that come along with being pregnant are all beautiful because they were caused by the mother sacrificing her comfort and body to bear their children.

The book, Let me be a Woman, by Elisabeth Elliot has some great insights on motherhood and "womanhood." This book is a series of letters she wrote to her daughter in the months that preceded her wedding. Here is a quote,

"...surely motherhood, in a deeper sense, is the essence of womanhood. The body of every normal woman prepares itself repeatedly to receive and to bear. Motherhood requires self-giving, sacrifice, suffering. It is a going down into death in order to give life, a great human analogy of a great spiritual principle (Paul wrote, "Death worketh in us but life in you"). Womanhood is a call. It is a vocation to which we respond under God, glad if it means the literal bearing of children, thankful as well for all that it means in a much wider sense, that in which every woman, married or single, fruitful or barren, may participate--the unconditional response exemplified for all time in Mary the virgin, and the willingness to enter into suffering, to receive, to carry, to give life, to nurture and to care for others.

The strength to answer this call is given us as we look up toward the Love that created us, remembering that it was that Love that first, most literally, imagined sexuality, that made us at the very beginning real men and real woman. As we conform to that Love's demands we shall become more humble, more dependent--on Him and on one another--and even (dare I say it?) more splendid."

I am not a mother. I do not know what it is like to sacrifice one's self as much as a mother does. However I do see the beauty in motherhood. Nothing is more beautiful than a mamma after giving birth. My friends who have had children and the women I have cared for in OB have a beauty and glow that cannot be replicated. I just wish they would realize it. I wish they could love the body that bore their children.

The other troubling thing about cosmetic surgery is the amount of money spent on it. One of my teachers made this interesting statement in class the other day (once again forgive the crassness of the statement), "More money in this country is spent on plastic surgery than on Alztiemer's research; so people are going to have huge boobs and giant erections and no one is going to know what to do with them". The statement itself is pretty funny...yet ever so troubling. Here is a list of the cost of the top procedures done in 2005.

PROCEDURE	SURGEON/PHYSICIAN FEE
Botox® injection	$382
Breast implant removal	$2,086
Breast augmentation saline	$3,583
Breast augmentation silicone	$4,005
Breast lift	$4,258
Breast reduction	$5,550
Breast reduction in men	$3,305
Buttock lift	$4,878
Cellulite massage treatment	$223
Cheek implant	$2,720
Chemical peel	$848
Chin augmentation	$2,095
Collagen injection	$333
Dermabrasion	$1,376
Ear surgery	$2,951
Eyelid surgery	$2,813
Facelift	$6,298
Fat injection	$1,053
Fibril injection	$440
Forehead lift	$3,148
Gynecomastia treatment	$3,305
Laser hair removal	$347
Laser skin resurfacing	$2,484
Laser treatment of leg veins	$407
Lip augmentation (surgical)	$1,819
Liposuction (suction-assisted)	$2,697
Liposuction (ultrasound-assisted)	$2,979
Lower body lift	$7,810
Microdermabrasion	$149
Rhinoplasty	$4,188
Sclerotherapy	$326
Soft Tissue Fillers - Autologous Fat	$1,395
Soft Tissue Fillers - Calcium hydroxylapatite (Radiesse/Radiance)	$911
Soft Tissue Fillers - Collagen	$398-488
Soft Tissue Fillers - Hyaluronic acid (Hylaform, Restylane)	$527
Thigh lift	$4,653
Tummy tuck	$5,232
Upper arm lift	$3,610

http://www.smartplasticsurgery.com/surgery/costs.html#CS

Shouldnt we be spending our money on something more useful?! On clothing the orphan or feeding the widow?!?

I want to make one thing clear here, I am in no way trying to judge people who make these choices. Most of you know that I am slightly cross eyed and I honestly would love it if there was a procedure that would straighten my eye. However since I have been married I have truly come to terms with my eyes and it is mostly thanks to my husband. He made me start to look him in the eye and he told me countless times that my eyes are beautiful and that I am unique because of it.

I am going to be writing more on this as I pray about it. Ultimately I know that the most important thing is that every woman (and man) experiences the powerful love of God.

One more thing, I know this is way to long, but if there are any men reading this I want to challenge you. I dont know if you realize this but the things you say to your wife GREATLY impact them. You may not even be thinking about what comes out of your mouth because maybe you are not that serious, but you wife will think about it for days. An offhand remark about her body after giving birth can be damaging. Men you have so much more power than you think. Focus on building up your wife, encourage her to be healthy and tell her how beautiful she is. Tell her you are so amazed that she was able to grow and birth your children! Think about the words that come out of your mouth before you say them to your wife because we listen and we take those words to heart.