Myers 1
Genevieve Myers
R. Peraud
ENG 102:620
21 April 2015
Perfectly Plastic
What do a water bottle, The Kardashians, and car components all share in common? It's
not a trick question, and the answer is more elastic than you would think. They're all fake, or
should I say, "plastic"! The principles that involve and solidify the concept of beauty are known
as aesthetics, and humanity has a knack for changing the perception of such. Aesthetic practices
have been around for centuries although wildly transforming with the passage of time. Cleopatra
used to crush beetles to use for lipstick, and Queen Elizabeth combined white lead with vinegar
to imitate a pale complexion. Aesthetic practices, or the acts of changing one's appearance, have
become more prevalent in modern day society, and because technology is making it easier to
modify your appearance, these practices have become more invasive. There are many reasons
why someone would want to change their physical appearance and many of these reasons are out
of people's control. These reasons range from different mental disabilities, to an insufficient
sense of self, typically coupled with different media and societal influences. Plastic surgery is
defined as any invasive cosmetic procedure that allows one to reconstruct certain body parts
which alters their physical appearance. Plastic surgery has some beneficial practices, such as the
ability to reconstruct deformities that one has no control over, but overall many procedures of
plastic surgery have many risks and drawbacks.
Myers 2
Plastic surgery, Hollywood and celebrities often come hand in hand. You see fabricated
images of beauty everywhere in the media. What we don't see is the extensive amount of work
this ideal image has behind it, there is always a process that takes place. Whether that be the
process of making the 5 foot 9 Victoria's Secret model you see in magazines flawless, to
portraying unattainable and fabricated...