I went to the nail salon today to get a manicure. I enjoy having nice fingernails; it makes me feel better about myself. I would even go as far to say that having nice fingernails makes me feel more feminine. While I was getting my manicure, there was a television show on in the background that I found rather captivating. Coincidentally, the show that was on was all about beauty regiments, and how they can essentially take over a person’s life in their pursuit of “perfection”.
The program was The Doctors, and they had several segments, ranging from excessive plastic surgery, to makeovers, teeth whitening, etc. The one segment that I found particularly horrifying was the one on tanning beds. They had a girl on the show that was so obsessed with getting tan that she would sometimes go twice in one day!! During the interview she even admits how much tanning is a part of her life, she states that “If I miss tanning, I have about a heart attack and I have to get back to the tanning salon and the fact that I work there, I can go after hours, so even if they're closed I can still always get in there.” The entire time I was watching this, I just kept asking myself, why does it matter to her so much? Is she really doing this just to satisfy herself?
I myself am guilty of stepping into a tanning booth, and in some way I understand the desire to fit into today's ideal of being young, beautiful and tan, but at what price? According to The Skin Cancer Foundation website, tanning is the body's reaction to the UV radiation. The website explains that,"UV rays damage the DNA of the skin's epidermal cells, triggering enzymes that race to repair the damage. UV rays damage the DNA of the skin's epidermal cells, triggering enzymes that race to repair the damage. However, these enzymes do not always repair the DNA successfully, and all this unrepaired damage can lead to mutations that increase the risk of skin cancer." With all of the scientific evidence out there about how dangerous tanning (tanning booths and unprotected, excessive sun tanning) is, I don’t understand why people are so willing to sacrifice their health to feed into this image of "perfection". Is it to satisfy themselves, and make themselves feel better, more confident, like me getting a manicure. Or is it more about fitting into what society wants us all to look like?
I think that American culture is obviously obsessed with their appearance. We are bombarded on a day to day basis with images of the perfect woman and the perfect man. Magazine covers, television shows, commercial advertisements, movies, they all promote physical perfection to some degree or another. It is inevitable that the psyche's of young people today are being warped and persuaded into thinking "This is what I need to look like to be considered "perfect" To say that American culture as a whole needs to be less concerned with physical appearance is an unrealistic statement. I do think that the idea of what perfection and ideal beauty is needs to change.
No comments:
Post a Comment