Feminism Is Back – The Freedom to Choose!
Why are women judged and even ostracized by both feminists and the greater public at large if they choose to enhance their breasts?
Why is it that across so many feminist sites and social media discussions, “choice” is celebrated in virtually every forum except for one: breast augmentation?
Among those who advocate equality for women, there’s strong support for the rights of women to make choices about life and most importantly, their bodies -– including the reproductive freedom to an abortion — but electing to go breast enhancement procedures seems to be just one step too far. Shouldn’t women’s choices about body modification – whether we’re talking makeup, hair color, tattoos, piercings or yes, even cosmetic surgery or breast augmentation – be respected?
Cosmetics and hair color are more accepted without nearly as much rebuke, but can be just as transformative as cosmetic surgery. And yet when you literally boil it down, why is getting a lip injection so much more inane than creating a new lip shape with pencil liner and plumping lipgloss? Why does society get to determine the line between “totally okay” and “too much!” instead of the woman whose face or body we are talking about?
Now I completely understand that many want to encourage a healthy acceptance of the “natural” self in response to the endless parade of dimple-free thighs and pore-less Photoshop messaging we see every day. Actually, augmentation with Breast Actives supplement for natural breast enhancement produces results that are identical to “natural”.
But is there perhaps another stifling standard sneaking behind critiques of breast enhancement? One that dictates that only “the original” beauty is “real,” and choosing to shape your looks is somehow “wrong” and definitely not feminist?
This slight has been thrown at women for eons. Even Shakespeare alluded to it when Hamlet insulted Ophelia and all of womankind – “I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another!”
For those who do choose to change something “permanently,” why is it automatically thought of as some kind of sell-out and not simply another choice a woman decides to make about her body? Breast augmentation in particular is rife with controversy since it enters such a sexualized zone, and often evokes the sanctimonious reaction that the procedure is “bad” and any woman who gets it must be emotionally damaged.
Women have battled long and hard to speak up and have their voices heard. They have, and they continue, to fight for jurisdiction their our own bodies. By respecting every choice that ownership entails – including body enhancement – we can give to others what we ultimately want for ourselves: the freedom to be who we are, and to lead lives of our own choosing.
