Is India going the Latin American way? Winning beauty contests has become an unhealthy, calculative, manipulative obsession and young girls are prepared to pay any price to win the crown or even go in for dangerous reconstructive plastic surgery to achieve their goal. While still in its infancy in India, on Latin America, it’s a way of life.
The first time she thought of getting breast implants, Juanna Ramos Mejia was at her pediatrician’s office. “I was 12 or 13 then, absolutely flat, and I asked him whether my bust would grow,” recalls Mejia, a 32 year old secretary in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He said, “Kid, forget it.” From that moment on, I knew I would do it.” Ramos’ precocious interest in cosmetic surgery is hardly unusual in Buenos Aires. Maria Marta Talice Laboratto, 26, eschewed a quinceanera megaparty in order to straighten her nose 10 years ago. The “Hook I had for a nose,” she says, besides attracting taunts might have made it difficult for her to progress professionally in “Argentina’s still male-dominated white collar world. “Almost every girl I know wants to have something done,” she says, “And if they haven’t done it, it’s because of fear or lack of means.” Machismo plays a larger part in South America’s beauty obsession. There is a strong pressure for women to adhere to a European look and if they don’t fit the mould, they suffer harsher judgment, personally and professionally, than in many cultures. You could also say that South American societies suffer from an inferiority complex. The Argentines, for example, have always felt one step away from real modernity ad wealth. In his book, The Masks of Argentina, journalist, Luis Majul describes cosmetic surgery as a quick personal route to the so called First World. Like Brazil and Venezuela, Argentina has a booming cosmetic surgery industry. Although no official statistics are compiled, Argentina is among the top ranked countries in per capita rates of cosmetic surgery, says Guillermo Flaherty, president of the Argentine plastic surgeon’s association.
Now look what’s happening in India. Sushmita Sen has had a breast implant. Shilpa Shetty had a nose job done. Leave alone the major cities, place like Ludhiana and Ajmer, plastic surgeons are performing breast implants and rhinoplasty (nose job) and there is no control on their activities. Horror stories of botched up cases are covered up and startling cases of deformities abound, as a result of plastic surgery gone wrong are common. Young men and women fill the waiting rooms, their vanity fanning this unhealthy obsession and doctors fill their coffers playing on their insecurities. Will some regulatory authority step in before it is too late?
The first time she thought of getting breast implants, Juanna Ramos Mejia was at her pediatrician’s office. “I was 12 or 13 then, absolutely flat, and I asked him whether my bust would grow,” recalls Mejia, a 32 year old secretary in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He said, “Kid, forget it.” From that moment on, I knew I would do it.” Ramos’ precocious interest in cosmetic surgery is hardly unusual in Buenos Aires. Maria Marta Talice Laboratto, 26, eschewed a quinceanera megaparty in order to straighten her nose 10 years ago. The “Hook I had for a nose,” she says, besides attracting taunts might have made it difficult for her to progress professionally in “Argentina’s still male-dominated white collar world. “Almost every girl I know wants to have something done,” she says, “And if they haven’t done it, it’s because of fear or lack of means.” Machismo plays a larger part in South America’s beauty obsession. There is a strong pressure for women to adhere to a European look and if they don’t fit the mould, they suffer harsher judgment, personally and professionally, than in many cultures. You could also say that South American societies suffer from an inferiority complex. The Argentines, for example, have always felt one step away from real modernity ad wealth. In his book, The Masks of Argentina, journalist, Luis Majul describes cosmetic surgery as a quick personal route to the so called First World. Like Brazil and Venezuela, Argentina has a booming cosmetic surgery industry. Although no official statistics are compiled, Argentina is among the top ranked countries in per capita rates of cosmetic surgery, says Guillermo Flaherty, president of the Argentine plastic surgeon’s association.
Now look what’s happening in India. Sushmita Sen has had a breast implant. Shilpa Shetty had a nose job done. Leave alone the major cities, place like Ludhiana and Ajmer, plastic surgeons are performing breast implants and rhinoplasty (nose job) and there is no control on their activities. Horror stories of botched up cases are covered up and startling cases of deformities abound, as a result of plastic surgery gone wrong are common. Young men and women fill the waiting rooms, their vanity fanning this unhealthy obsession and doctors fill their coffers playing on their insecurities. Will some regulatory authority step in before it is too late?
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