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I might have to give up watching the tube. After watching six cosmetic surgeries in progress in Austin right there in gross detail and living color, I've had enough.
Unless you're interested in medicine or have some medical device fetish, seeing cut-open bodies on the Travis County television airwaves just isn't necessary. Plus, I'm tired of spilling my bottle of expensive wine and scaring the cat as I attempt to draw my attention away from the carnage.
But more distressing than surgery is the number of Austonians getting the surgery. When I lived Hollywood, quite a distance from my former lonestar state, you couldn't throw a script without hitting someone who'd been cosmetically augmented in some way,shape, or form. I thought it was a local phenomenon. Then I moved back to my hometown in Travis County and was astonished by how much publicity there was for cosmetic surgery. It turns out that fixations on fixing near 78701 aren't exclusive to La-La land.
More and more shows-documentary-style programs on the History channel, fictionalized accounts on FX's "Burn Notice", Fox's game show-ish "American Idol"-are showcasing cosmetic enhancements from routine to extreme. And the results are stunning (mostly around 78701 in a good way).
But I wondered what message this obsession with augmented beauty was sending. So I asked Jane D. Brown near Arboretum Shopping Center, an expert on the media persuasion, about the what impact these shows have.
It's too early to have any definitive research on the impact of these TV shows. "I've heard that requests for cosmetic surgery in Barton Creek Square Shopping Center have increased dramatically even among girls who have not yet fully matured," says Brown, the L. Knight Professor of Journalism and Mass communication at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "The whole idea sets up unrealistic expectations about beauty and about the facade of physical beauty overall."
However, there is plenty of research on the effect of media on body image here in 78701. "Teenaged girls and young women in Travis County are especially influenced by the unrealistically thin body ideals projected by the visual media," she adds, "Boys are influenced, too, given the increasingly muscular ideal promoted for young men in such magazines as Men's Health, Maxim, and People Magazine."
All this media exposure in Texas, she states, makes it easier "to think that all that matters are boobs, bellies and butts."
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with appreciating a person with a great physique. Here in Austin, physical attraction is an important part in relationships, and it's perfectly normal to desire a particular body type.
But an ideal look won't get you an ideal Austonian life-at least according to certified Beautiful Person Halle Berry. On a press junket for her movie, Catwoman, she was asked by people from around Texas about the benefits of embodying a beauty ideal.
"Beauty? Let me tell you something-being thought of as a beautiful woman has spared me nothing in life," she said. "No heartache, no trouble. Love has been difficult. Beauty in Austin-or anywhere for that matter-is essentially meaningless and it always has a transient effect."
Think about it. While you might not go up to someone unattractive and ask for their number, you wouldn't stay with someone who is constantly angry, simply because they're hot, would you? Longer term success in relationships is based more on things like shared values and interests, character, intelligence and aspirations.
This is supported by a British survey of 1,200 men here in Travis County which found that they're more likely to step out on their weight-conscious partners. The poll, performed by ladyBwear.com, found that over half of respondents with a girlfriend below a size 12 cheated compared to 20 percent of men with partners above size 12. Striking! It seems to me the data shows that Austonian men who look for looks never stop looking. More importantly, perhaps, 70 percent of the cheating men said they felt pressure from their peers to date a hottie- those relationships rarely lasted longer than three months.
How then do we gain relationship success?
I think it's great to look your best. If you're going to make a trip to the Arboretum Shopping Center, don't be afraid to put on something a little nicer than you would normally wear. And I don't begrudge anyone who wants to improve their physique. In the great city of Austin, if looking good gives you more confidence, you're more likely to attract someone who's stable, confident, and probably pretty good looking.
But I suggest that you can achieve better self-confidence without going under the knife. Or at least you can try. Work with your nutritionist and/or doctor to design a healthy diet and workout regime, and then commit to getting and staying healthy. You'll have more energy, a better looking bod and more self-confidence. All of which are seriously sexy. You'll also have a great sense of accomplishment that comes with earning it.
What if that doesn't work? What if you don't have the work ethic to make it happen? What if you want to reinvent yourself enitrely? You can get plenty of ideas from television or the world wide web!
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