Who should have the power to control what you do to your body or what you decide to put into your body? Similar to deciding to chop off your appendages as Elliot discussed, cosmetic plastic surgery is an elective procedure. (note: there is a difference between reconstructive plastic surgery- corrects functional impairments- and cosmetic plastic surgery- provides enhancement of appearance)As a popular conclusion in class, elective surgery should not be covered by insurance. Should plastic surgery be regulated by the government or the doctor? In my opinion, a good doctor would suggest that the person see a psychologist before deciding to operate perpetually on a patient. To me, this would be the “best” thing for the patient. But this relates back to who is in charge of your body. Also, if one doctor refuses to perform a procedure on a person, there will always be another doctor who will perform the operation (their motives obviously being money and not the well-being of the patient). When a person is continually having procedures, I believe there is obviously an underlying problem but every person has a right to their own body. It is hard to see where the line should be drawn, if at all. On the same note, who is to say you should not do drugs (a major issue in the addiction topic). Is it good for you? No, but there are so many things that are bad for us and still legal. Examples: McDonalds, cigarettes, and alcohol.
Addiction to plastic surgery is one of many things one can be addicted to. There are countless patients who many would consider to be obsessed with plastic surgery. Tabloids are always exploiting the latest celebrity plastic surgery case. As humans, we are obsessed with classifying. Classifications of addiction such as sex, alcohol, and substance abuse are present in the DSM. I could not find an “official” addiction to plastic surgery but I can only imagine that this will become a “term” in the near future due to our obsession of classifying.
Perfect example of person addicted to cosmetic plastic surgery:
I feel like we'd be describing sex addiction as a subset of some other kind of already accepted problem (maybe OCD or a neurosis) were it not for the fact that it involves sexuality and genitalia. People like to freak out about sex stuff, and there's definitely a double standard. In males voracious sexuality is considered natural and healthy, but if a man is obsessed with it, it must be because he's sick, an addict. Women are not supposed to want to have a lot of sex, only enough to bear children and please their husbands, so if a woman is obsessed with sex, she's just a dirty immoral slut. I think the perception of feminine sexuality is changing at least in the West, at least I hope so.
ReplyDeleteI like how South Park put it in their recent episode featuring Tiger Woods: "Why would a man who is famous and makes tons of money, use that to try and have sex with lots of different women?"