astro
June 15, 2003, 3:35pm
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This article from Salon is just too delicious. American hucksterism at it’s finest. Let’s make a market for blacks with money that want to be a little well … more refined… yeah that’s it, “refined”… That 's the ticket!
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is promoting nose jobs for African-Americans that won’t make their noses European – just narrower, more refined, and without the flared nostrils. I’m not buying it.
Wonder what they’ve got in store for hispanics and asians? Some bits from article.
[sub]
Now history may be cycling back on itself, with some intriguing modifications. In March, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons – with 6,000 members the largest plastic surgery organization in the world – publicized a study that appeared in its medical journal, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, about new techniques in reshaping the African-American nose. The study, “Rhinoplasty in the African-American Patient,” advanced a novel-sounding theory that nose jobs for blacks are now less about diminishing ethnic appearance than about preserving it. Anticipating the skepticism that lay people like me might feel, the association quickly detailed its position. It explained that the timeworn European standard of beauty “has stepped aside, encouraging African-Americans to retain their unique ethnic characteristics while improving their overall look.” The pitch contended that “with this shift in attitude, plastic surgeons who appreciate ethnic concepts of beauty and the unique anatomic characteristics of the African-American nose can create the most consistent and best results.”
Blacks, who according to the ASPS make up 6 percent of all plastic surgery patients, may be more inclined than most to want to triumph over that nature, given that their looks have historically been used against them and been such an integral part of their oppression. Rohrich’s study unwittingly evinces that oppression in the medically dispassionate descriptions of the typical characteristics of a black nose: “Broad and flat dorsum,” “Slightly flaring alae,” “Ovoid nares.” It detailed one patient’s complaint of having a nose that was “large and unrefined” – a common complaint that always involved flaring alae – which a surgeon transformed into a “narrowed, more refined nose with improved tip definition.” The study is commendable for putting the phrase “African-American beauty” in a sentence more than once, but it is a beauty still clearly searching for mainstream context. Few admits he winced at the descriptions himself because it made blackness feel like something not to celebrate but to overcome [/sub]
Eh, so the ASPS is just now realizing a virtually untapped market. They can use Halle Berry as their poster child. They can also use Lil’ Kim as their we-promise-we-won’t-do-this-to-you poster child, too.
I wonder if KRS-ONE gets his nose done if they’ll charge him extra?
[sub]Nasal-Facial Harmony is a great band name.[/sub]
And where exactly does Michael Jackson fit in all this?