Americans usually always try to look their best no matter what. We go to great lengths to achieve that look we all want. Americans spend billions every year collectively on designer clothes, jewelry, gym memberships, tanning, nails, dietary supplements and hair styling. Americans spend more per capita on beauty products than any other modernized country on earth. All of this can be attributed to that want to be thin, strong, and attractive. It hasn’t always been like this though. Over the past half century, this phenomenon has increased greatly. Back in the frontier days, nobody cared about their waist size or breast size, they didn’t care about what kind of cloths they wore or perfume they sprayed on themselves, they cared about providing for their families and making sure their children lived better lives then they did. As the world started to change and technology which made the basic necessities of life much more easily available, Americans worried more about material items and looks and less about stuff their grandparents worried about.
It all started with the Barbie and Ken dolls and the unattainable and false proportions of the body that those dolls represented. People every day strive to match that image of a slim and toned body and pay lots of money to look like that perfect image. More recently though, people have found a new way to try and have the perfect proportions and that is plastic surgery. Nearly 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2007, according to statistics released by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. That is up 8% from 2000. Americans spent just over $13 billion on those cosmetic procedures. The most frequently performed procedure was Botox injections and the most popular surgical procedure was liposuction. We see this phenomena reflected in Hollywood as it is hard to name an actor/actress that hasn’t had a cosmetic surgical procedure. The American dream has gone from having a house, 2 kids and a white picket fence to having the perfect nose, a thin stomach and a perfect complexion.
1 comment:
In this day and age, people do want to be beautiful. And let’s face it; we all know the reason why. You can say it’s because of the movie stars and other celebrities, but I believe the real reason is that beautiful people have easier lives. They tend to be much more charismatic and confident because they know that they’re good looking. People bow at their feet. Go to any high school across America and you can see that beauty is worshipped. People notice if you’re good looking. They’ll hold doors open for your, make room on a bus for you, and maybe even buy you nice things. It may be wrong to desire material and superficial things, but they really do make your life easier.
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