Summary Of The Pitfalls Of Plastic Surgery

There are ethical and moralistic issues regarding the unattainable beauty standards, influenced by the media such as video games and magazines, which strips away one’s sense of individuality and self-worth. In order to maintain the happiness and confidence that individuality brings, one must create their own beauty standard that represents who they are as a person. Camille Paglia, an author, academic, and noted feminist, argues in her article, “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery,” that these unrealistic beauty standards are becoming problematic due to the idea that individuals in the corporate world are striving for the same generic look. In the article, “What Meets the Eye,” written by Daniel Akst, a well-known novelist and journalist, it argues
Women and men have feelings of insecurity due to the era of “computerized special effects and slam-bang action-adventure films” and “holographic video games, with their fantasy cast of overmuscled heroes and pneumatic vixens” (Paglia 776). She describes in detail different examples of the media to show how impractical it is to look exactly like the media’s expectations without any form of cosmetic procedures such as liposuction, breast augmentation, or face lifts. Her use of detailed descriptions is effective in persuading her audience to take their own individuality into consideration because it makes it easier for people to accept that no matter what they do, they will never be satisfied if they are comparing themselves to people made by computers. Another effective rhetorical strategy Paglia uses is the allusion to Hollywood from the 1920s to the early ‘60s (Paglia 776). She mentions older actresses such as “The mature Lana Turner of Imitation of Life or Peyton Place” to indicate that many film star’s faces are remolded to appear a particular way. In this case, Lana Turner was made to look like a sensual version of someone her own age (Paglia 776). Paglia is making sure her upper-class audience knows that Hollywood’s beauty standards should not be the inspiration of their desired
Using logic and reasoning is a very effective tool in further supporting an article, as proven by Akst. He goes deeper into Paglia’s argument that as a society, people are obsessed with appearance by bringing up data from the American Society of Plastic Surgery (Akst 296). By using logistics and facts in his article, he dives further into a lot of his main points such as evolutionary psychology to prove how people invest themselves more in better-looking people (Akst 299). He also uses a metaphor to talk about how for many people who work and have kids, it is far too costly to pay attention to their looks by comparing it to a peacock’s tail to attract mates due to it appearing robust enough to fend off predators (Akst 297). Akst’s article shows some of the flaws in Paglia’s article due to hers not having a whole lot of evidence to back up her facts such as her generalized statement that cosmetic surgery has become a civil right (Paglia 775). If Paglia had enough evidence to further support her statement, it would have been a very effective