Meanwhile we have an industry many many times bigger that is doing much worse for us — all of us — in terms of health and beauty and body consciousness, and that is the fast-food industry. When you add up all the crap people put into their bodies — sodas, drive-through grease, potato chips, energy drinks, processed meats more like plastic than food — it’s small wonder that our country is so obese and unhealthy.

And it’s not easy to eat well. For one thing, you can’t eat much but garbage if you’re working a zillion hours just to get by.

The beauty industry is trivial compared to what we’re doing to ourselves through our food. And yet few people talk about it. In fact, talk about obesity, especially in children, often gets push-back from what could only be called fat advocates.

Some people have medical issues, but most Americans are creating medical issues for themselves. I couldn’t care less about botox ads in magazines, but I find myself getting angry every time I see an obese kid in a commercial.

/semi-off-topic rant

I too have a problem with the definition of “feminism” that says that anything a woman or girl chooses to do is “feminist” as long as it appears to be something she is freely “choosing.” In which drastically altering her body to conform to society’s standards of beauty is fine so long as it’s what she “chooses” to do. In which staying at home with her children while her husband goes to work is fine so long as she “chooses” to do so. I think in many cases, not as much “choice” is really going into the “choosing” as these individuals think. There is a certain pressure to conform to expectations of women in this society, and some make the decision that conforming is easier than creating or dealing with alternatives. This, they call “choice.” But I’m not so sure it really is.

Which would explain the giant multinational tattoo conglomerates. *eyeroll*

Don’t continually mistake of assuming that your motivations are everyone’s.

I think the way I’d put it, Bill, is that tattoing/piercing began as a subculture that explicitly rejected normative beauty standards. It was intended to be genuinely liberatory; rather than trying to live up to the dictates of Big Fashion, Big Pharma, and the cosmetic surgery industry, folks who engaged in body modification were creating their own independent aesthetic. It wasn’t about being contrary as much as it was about a refusal to be compliant.

Of course, as with rock music and every other rebellion, it was quickly co-opted by the very forces it was designed to oppose.

I’m fairly certain you don’t mean that but that’s certainly what that last remark sounded like.

I happen to consider it all mutilation but hey that’s just me……..and my tribe.

It’s not quite as much of a distinction as you might think. If an A-cup is “abnormal” and “impairs functioning” (because a C-cup is valued in our society), it blurs the line between cosmetic and plastic surgery.