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The Goddess Speaks Mona Wood |
TV’s ‘Swan’ sends
an ugly messageTHIS "goddess" has been relatively quiet since my last article a few years ago, but cosmetic surgery overkill shows are making me see red, and it's time to speak up again. It started with "Extreme Makeover" and has sunken to what I hope will be the lowest it can go with the overly dramatic, stomach-churning and just plain awful show "The Swan."
For those who don't know the premise of this nightmare of a show with the fairy-tale moniker, "The Swan" pits two "plain Janes" against each other each week in a nip-and-tuck marathon, with the goal of selecting one of them as the more beautiful, new and improved, silicone-implanted, low-fat, high-maintenance winner at the end of each show. That winner will then enter the ultimate beauty pageant, competing against the other beautifully nipped and tucked weekly winners to be crowned "The Swan," the most beautiful post-surgery creation of all.
I'm sure that in place of the scepter, she'll be given one of those magic mirrors that Sleeping Beauty's evil stepmother had, just to check if she is, indeed, "the fairest of them all" as time wears on.
Thank goodness there is a shrink on the show's panel of plastic-looking experts because these women face a total stranger in the mirror once they give the signal to lift the heavy velvet crimson curtains to reveal their new image at each episode's climax, crying, "I'm beautiful! I'm so beautiful!"
THIS SHOW IS just plain sick, and the message it is sending out to every girl and woman out there is that your life will have value only if you are physically beautiful. And if you're not beautiful by nature, there are experts who can make you beautiful with so much surgery that Michael Jackson is probably trying to get on this show. I'm joking here, but this is anything but a laughing matter.
With little girls as young as 6 and 7 already suffering from anorexia and other eating disorders due to unhealthy body images, this is serious. Although every culture and society has standards of what is physically attractive, programs like this one suggest that beauty is the ultimate goal for these women. Without it, we can't be happy, successful or even lovable, apparently. That kind of "lesson" is pathetic.
I'm hoping others are also outraged, committed to nurturing the whole person, inside and out, and showing young girls who are struggling with being less than a "10" that beauty can come from sources within themselves. I have a precious 6-year-old niece who I want growing up in a world where she will be judged more by her character than her cleavage, and in total acceptance of her own unique beauty, whether it fits a standard definition or not.
Now, I'm not saying that I don't aspire to be as attractive as I can be -- I use makeup, touch up the ever increasing number of white roots that pop out of my head with religious regularity, and wear lipstick to take the trash out, for crying out loud! And when the number of birthday candles on my cake looks more like the towering inferno, I might even consider a visit to Dr. Look Good to plump up a line or two on my face.
I'll admit that at one time the thought of breast augmentation fluttered across my mind with daydreams of filling out a bikini like a Victoria's Secret model. But it was only a fleeting thought, and I know I won't ever do it. I have come to accept and like my body, although I could stand to get back on the tennis court or into a canoe. And there are lines creeping on my face, but I've earned the character that comes with them. We need to embrace these "imperfections" that make us unique.
So, plump up that personality instead of those lips. Increase your kindness quotient instead of your bust size. And develop your sense of humor instead of your ego. I have no doubt these "Swan" women will feel better about themselves after all the surgical "improvements," and this attitude change will affect their overall lives, at least in the beginning. I wonder how long it will take them to realize that changing the outside will not be what brings them happiness, success or love in the end.
Mona Wood is president of Ikaika Communications, a public relations company.
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