I found this pretty depressing...

I guess my answer to "Why not?" would be ... "because that means you're vain." I don't know, I just don't think I understand people wanting to look like they're something they're not.

K, so what if you don't want to look like whatever gender you were born?  I mean, apply that line of thinking to those who seek to alter the appearance their gender gives them.

Or how about to folks who want to get rid of a scar or other disfigurement that makes them unhappy and causes them grief in their lives.

Should they just put up with big scars or the like because to do otherwise would be to look like something they're not?

I think I'm going to skip this discussion. I shouldn't have stepped in to begin with. My mistake. I just don't think I'm ever going to see things the same way some of you do. Sorry.

I don't see how this article is newsworthy. If a woman has or wants plastic surgery it is her choice and her business.
Fake boobs like Jordan's or boobs sagging down to your ankles, what difference does it make as long as your happy?

I think it's just that there's a concerted effort to target women specifically because they've had children. 'The Mommy Job' or whatever they're calling it. While I don't have problem with cosmetic surgery (well, withing reason Jackie Stallone!), I do have a problem with marketing it to a certain group of people who are, arguably, a bit vulnerable (my understanding is that women are doing this very soon after childbirth).

I also have a problem with the bit in the article where they mention women doing their best to gain as little weight as possible while pregnant. This just simply isn't safe for them or their babies.

I also have a problem with the bit in the article where they mention women doing their best to gain as little weight as possible while pregnant. This just simply isn't safe for them or their babies.

That's a valid point.

BUT, there is now quite compelling evidence that it is just as unsafe for women to gain large amounts of weight during pregnancy.

It used to be advised to gain between 20-30lbs., but now people can't say anything for fear of getting sued or complained about for not being PC.

Even though it really isn't a good idea healthwise to gain the way many people I know - including my own sister - have, for mother or baby.

I was under the impression huge weight gain wasn't supposed to be good for some time. I think I was told 20 pounds max by my midwife.

I guess I was lucky in that my appetite is pretty poor when I'm pregnant. I eat what I need to to keep myself and the baby healthy. Anything more is a challenge. The majority of my weight gain with Sammy was oedema. Once all that had cleared after his birth, I was actually thinner than before I got pregnant! This time seems to be going the same way but there's still time!

K, so what if you don't want to look like whatever gender you were born?  I mean, apply that line of thinking to those who seek to alter the appearance their gender gives them.

Or how about to folks who want to get rid of a scar or other disfigurement that makes them unhappy and causes them grief in their lives.

Should they just put up with big scars or the like because to do otherwise would be to look like something they're not?

Very true. I dye my hair because I don't want to be totally grey at age 40. I had my teeth bonded because I didn't want spaces and ageing teeth to make me look older. I just think it's ok to change what you don't like about yourself. Why not?

I also have a problem with the bit in the article where they mention women doing their best to gain as little weight as possible while pregnant. This just simply isn't safe for them or their babies.

Take someone like me.  I am already overweight and just a few pounds away from being obese. Any doctor will tell me I need to gain as little weight as possible.  If I didn't do my best to gain as little weight as possible during my pregnancy, I would end up being absolutely huge and that is definitely not good for the baby.  I am only supposed to gain around 15 pounds the entire time and that is going to be a serious struggle.  Even trying, I'm pretty darn sure I will gain more than that and it scares me, not because I'm vain but because of all the health problems it could cause me and my baby.  Things like gestational diabetes, eclampsia, etc. It's not pretty. 

As for surgery, well, I'm all up for it.  I was considering lipo and a tummy tuck even before I thought of getting pregnant.  I have a belly, always have, even when I weighed 100 pounds.  I could get down to my lowest recommended weight, be healthy, etc and still have a belly. I don't mean a small one mind you, I have looked like I'm pregnant for years.  It may be the way I am, but I am just not happy with it.  I can't find clothes that fit properly and I don't look good in anything.  You betcha I'm gonna have the "mommy job" when I'm done having kids!

June

I'd be scared to have cosmetic surgery, it always looks so painful.  A friend of mine had a nose job and it looked like she'd gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.  Ouch.

That's a valid point.

BUT, there is now quite compelling evidence that it is just as unsafe for women to gain large amounts of weight during pregnancy.

The problem is with the way the article is written. It talks about  'quasi-anorectic eating', than says 'a survey at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore indicated that 21% of pregnant women had engaged in "weight-restrictive" behaviour.', sort of subtly implying that 21% of pregnant women are endangering their pregnancies by not eating enough.

But what exactly is weight-restrictive behaviour?  Does it mean watching how much you eat and how much weight you gain? Shouldn't all pregnant women be doing this? Maybe those 21% of pregnant women were already overweight  before they fell pregnant?

I have the body of a mother in her 40's too.  I'm not overweight - I eat well, exercise, and am generally a healthy happy person.  But I have the unmistakable signs of a woman who has carried 35-pound pregnancies to delivery, and breastfed two babies.  I guess if everybody starts getting these surgeries I'll soon feel like a reject...      :\\\'(

I'll sit in the reject pile with you.  I have no problems being 39 and (for the most part) looking like it.  I just feel there's more to life than worrying about every little thing I eat and taking time away from being with my husband and kids to go work out - which I hate doing anyway and NO ONE can convince me it's *fun* because for me, it's not.

I think the problem is that - yes, do what makes you feel happy about yourself.  But when people start saying that same thing which makes them happy will/should/must make everyone else happy, that's where the line has been crossed.

I guess if I was thinking about plastic surgery I'd sit down and have a long think about why beforehand. Do I want it to help me conform to some unrealistic standard of beauty? Can I be happy just being myself?

I think the problem is that - yes, do what makes you feel happy about yourself.  But when people start saying that same thing which makes them happy will/should/must make everyone else happy, that's where the line has been crossed.

I completely agree.  And I do find it sad that some of the gains made for feminism are being eroded by anxiety about appearance, which is whipped up by the beauty industry and also by criticism by some women (like the one quoted). Dissatisfaction with appearance is much greater than when I was a teenager in the supposedly less equal 70s. And why undergo all the risks of surgery for something that isn't making you ill?

And with regard to breast changes, I was taught as a breastfeeding counsellor that it was pregnancy that changed shape, not feeding, and there is evidence on the net that supports this:

http://www.news-medical.net/?id=32064
http://www.promom.org/bf_info/myths.htm

There is one thing that I picked up on in that article, which was that the Big Brother woman and main protaganist (and, my guess is, paid spokeswoman for the surgery named) is that she said that her boobs were different sizes after breast feeding.

Now, I am not a mother, and though I am definitely in need of losing a few pounds, but I would not consider surgery in normal circumstances.  But if my boobs were suddenly visibly different sizes, I wouldn't hesitate!


Vicky

The baby is only 10 months old now and she was only breatfeeding for a few weeks when she noticed the change.  S

he says was the left breast that the baby preferred, I wonder if the mother is right handed and found it easier to hold the baby with the right arm.