plastic influencers

When we ask people about what they think about plastic surgery these days a great debate rises. Some people think that you should love yourself just the way you are; accept and embrace your imperfections, so there is no need of drawing upon plastic surgery since it is consider to be as something superficial, fake or extra. People feel the necessity of changing something about their appearance because they feel unhappy and insecure about their bodies. Others consider that if you have the possibility of changing something you do not like, you should feel free of doing it so, it does not matter what other people might think, thus it is your body. In general, both sides agree that you should not care about what other people think of your body either to change it or to leave it exactly like it is; only time can change it –or maternity if you are a women.

But fitness culture, tattoos, piercings and makeup aren't a sort of semi- permanent way of changing something about your appearance too?

mexican youtubers

 I would like to address a situation regarding the double standards portray on social media by our favorite influencers.  I have recently unfollow many vlogers or beauty gurus, specially when I detect  inconsistencies, for example: some content creators on youtube post videos about healthy lifestyle, ;how they exercise on an daily basis, eat healthy  and beautiful food, and stay positive and happy. Later  on, you find out they have anxiety issues or they deal with depression bulimia or anorexia. How many influencers have "confessed" having a plastic surgery, botox or hyaluronic acid? Nose jobs and boobies implants for the most part, but now they feel confident enough to tell their audience to stay true and love themselves😑 Why uploading this content if they are not even serious about themselves? is it because brands and sponsors demand it so? is this just about money? I want to believe it's not.

Of course, it is easier to love yourself and embrace your  "inner" beauty when you just have had a couple of retouches and fixes yourself, then you can motivate your audience to join the self love movement, practice yoga, keep a healthy diet, smile, yes but when you are standed at the top of your tower where you are super skinny, you have thigh gaps by genetics, lashes extensions and a hell of sponsors of makeup, clothes and other beauty products.

 I also feel irritated by the same double standard attitude of taking natural non natural pictures. First, we mortals do not have those great cameras, lights and cellphones neither the apps and programs for photo editing, you know the saying: "there is no ugly people, just bad lightning". Second, influencers really want us to believe that the pictures on instagram are real and casual, like it is normal to eat everyday delicious food and lattes in Thailand and having awesome tans and abs. Do you want to know what is real and random? the struggle most women face while trying to be just like you "role models" but this apply to guys too. Maybe this is why I just do not like the Kardashians or beauty gurus anymore.

 ––Yeah, it would be easier to love myself if I just did not have these rolls around my belly ––certainly. 

––Yep I would have been one step closer to my goal if my  bridge-nose were not that huge, or my boobs were bigger. 

But the reality is that most of people in the planet do not fucking  fit in the beauty standards that postmodern society has imposed.

Coming back to our original topic, plastic surgery and permanent semi permanent changes... let's discurse: Does Eiza Gonzales has the right to talk about self love? We all mexicans know that she has more than 3 surgeries, and yeah, she is really pretty and talented, as far as I know she is killing in at Hollywood. But don't you think is kind of hypocrite to talk about fitness and self love on instagram when you had a Liposuction down there? Maybe is not entirely her fault, she is just part of an environment where people should look good all the time, and when they don't, we mortals –an ugly people– make terrible comments criticizing the appearance or body of famous people, like How do we freaking dare to always have an opinion on someonelse's body? So I get all the pressure these famous people feel trying to fulfill the expectations of fans and public in general, who are always watching through their phones.

So in order to stay true to your audience, most famous people  should say when they have had some plastic or retouch on their bodies? I don't think so, it is their lives and their bodies, whatever they want to do or not to do is their choice. I think Social media many times takes off the right of having a private life, to keep a secret or negative thoughts. This remind of that Jim Carry's Movie "The truman Show" , where the actor lives on a controlled reality filmed 24/7 for just the delay of the audience. I have an other example, in Legally Blonde, there is fitness instructor, who is accused of the murder of her husband. She is innocent but she does not trust her lawyer, so she refuses to produce an alibi for the murder, Why so? because she was having a Liposuction that exact day, so that true will ruin her career. How could someone be a fitness instructor and a fat at the same time? Fitness people should look skinny = healthy, happy always, otherwise you are lame.

I come with just a short-term solution: stop trying to post comments of your thoughts of how people  –famous or not– should look like. Stop demanding celebrities/influencers look a certain way, specially with imperfections. Maybe this way they will stop posting pictures and content trying to satisfy our cravings for perfection. If we stop consuming this type of damaging content and advertising, mkt/business people will look for alternative ways of sell their products; ways that do not put women (but also men) under horrible beauty standards imposible to achieve. Social media and the beauty industry can be monsters, shaming people about their appearance or imposing trends not only on fashion, beauty but in lifestyle, diets (where does matcha and cúrcuma for everything just came from?), we are responsible too for the many ways we shame our friends, family and of course ourselves. We are responsible too for the content we share and reproduce or the comments we make about others.

I think we need to learn how to identify healthy content; it is ok to post sassy pics telling your friends how sexy and awesome you feel today, put some filters with VSCO even if you want too, hide those small imperfections if that makes you feel better, but don't forget to ask you first, why are you hiding them? Remember you can modify your appearance digitally or in reality as much as you desire, but at the end the person you look at the mirror is only yourself; that person who can not habited its own body without feeling shame or disgust it's you. Work in that first and then if you want to follow a diet,  chance your look, follow a beauty treatment, or go for a plastic surgery then do it, but do it having in mind that the truly permanent changes come from the inside.

I will finish by telling you something personal, when I was younger I had always hated my nose, it was big and it had a sort of bump. My dad and my brother (who have "pretty" noses) were constantly shaming me about my nose, like if I had choose to have it like that! My dad even told me that when I were older he would pay me a plastic surgery (wtf dad!) I also had many nose issues since I was a kid; it constantly was bleeding for no reason, and once it got seriously hit when I was at a Taekwando  tournament.  Even though I didn't like it,  somehow I accepted and I was like "yeah is ugly haha but somedays basically everything in me is ugly". One day when I was a teenager I had an accident in a pool and my doctor told me I needed a surgery because it was broken. Perfect opportunity. I confess I was pretty excited because I would be able to choose the aesthetic style and form for my nose, likewise my nose problems will end too, double combo! Funny thing she told me she was not a plastic surgery doctor and she suggested me not to change my natural form but just to fix the issue and with it, the bump would disappear too. I was irritated. Almost 9 years later I think that taking her advice was the best decision I could took and I thank my doctor for not letting me choose a nose just based on "beauty standards". She is my mom's friend, and she told me basically that the perception I had of my nose wouldn't disappear with a surgery, and that people tend to change it more, because it is never enough. Ironically after the surgery I felt horrible, my nose disliked me even more than before! I was scared because I thought it looked odd. I developed a fixation about looking at everyone's noses, comparing them to mine. Fortunately, within time, I got over it, and I don't even think about my nose or any other noses anymore. Just kidding, I still do, I love my nose ;) (except when I get allergies) The point is that acceptance does not come automatically. I don't compare noses all the time nor I crave for a nose job of anything although I know it's not perfect anymore. (I hit it a second time, similar circumstances)