Would you think less of someone if they had a boob job?

In My Humble Opinion
81

I had some pretty major jaw surgery in 99 to correct an overbite/overjet (the surgeon brought my lower jaw forward and raised/widened my upper palate). It was very cosmetic and made a pretty dramatic improvement in my face - all of a sudden, I had a chin! I definitely think I look remarkably better and it was worth the pain, risk and slight permanent numbness in my left lower lip to look more normal.

Unless you go rummaging around in my gum line where I have some pretty nifty scarring, I doubt the surgery would be obvious to you.

Of course, I realize I might be overly sensitive and my kind of surgery isn’t the type you are talking about!

82

Yes I would. I think it’s disgusting. Very few people are made to look better by plastic surgery.

Try and feel better about yourself without surgical mutilation.

83

This. Absolutely.

84

I don’t think it is, but maybe it’s just a question of degree. I think there’s a difference between cosmetic surgery to correct a problem (overbite/receding chin) and surgery to enhance a body part that’s normal (small boobs). Especially when (like everybody has said) boob jobs and face lifts are so obvious.

One thing I’ve noticed is fewer actresses with collagen-filled lips. Maybe that fad has passed.

85

How are breast implants to increase the size of your breasts “superficial” and reconstructive surgery categorically not? Surely these are just points on a contiuum?

86

Because there’s nothing that needs to be corrected about smaller breasts. There’s nothing wrong with them. Increasing the size serves no medical purpose. It’s pure vanity.

I think breast implants are the modern western equivalent of women putting plates in their lips or binding their feet. It’s a grotesque distortion of anatomy done solely to pander to a ridiculous cultural fetishization of a body part.

87

I can completely understand a person thinking that plastic surgery is a bad idea, or that boob jobs result in the “after” looking less attractive than the “before.” I can completely NOT understand making the leap from that (or even that a given person has made a bad decision regarding her own boobs) to thinking to oneself, “someone who’s had a boob job is less valuable as a person than someone who hasn’t.” Where do you peple get off judging others like that? You may think you know why they did it, but you can’t KNOW – and without that bit of information, I wouldn’t feel qualified to attach a value judgment to it.

(Side anecdote)
Some years ago, a woman I worked with (I’d guess mid-forties, fit and attractive) took two weeks’ vacation, and when she came back there was something different that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. After a day or two, I noticed that she seemed a bit disgruntled; come-down from vacation, I figured. (Mrs. Chef would be the first to tell you that when it comes to women, I am pretty dense.)

After several days, she came into my cubicle and said, “Troy, I have to ask you something. Do you notice anything different about me?”

“Now that you mention it, yes,” I said. “I don’t know what it is, but you came back from vacation looking really happy, and it’s kind of going away. Is everything all right?”

She rolled her eyes, checked for eavesdroppers, and leaned in. She whispered, “I had a boob job while I was out of the office, and nobody seems to have noticed anything. It’s starting to get annoying!”

I was, of course, looking her in the eye while she said this – my mama brought me up right. I hesitated, and then said, “Okay, you know I’m going to have to look at 'em now, right?”

She grinned and nodded, so I took a good long appraising look. Whoever did the installation was very talented… they looked really natural. I told her she looked great, but I couldn’t comment on the change because I’d never really spent time ogling her in the “before” state.

I’ve since wondered if I missed an opportunity by not asking, “So… how natural do they FEEL?”

(and no, I didn’t think less of her for having it done.)

88

You probably wouldn’t have been turned down, if someone puts ~$20,000 into a boob job I would think they would want to have them appreciated.

A boob job is really a gamble. You know you’ll probably wind up with scars underneath at the very least. Hopefully you’ll wind up with a nice natural-looking set, but there’s also the chance they’ll come out lopsided, or there will be medical complications, or you’ll look like you have two grapefruit under your skin.

I’m really tempted to post a safe link to a neck down pic of a ex-gf that got a boob job. They are really spectacular, I was surprised they turned out so well.

89

“Ridiculous fetishization” is the reason that human females tend to have round breasts in the first place rather than flat ones (and why human males have relatively large penises). It has been selected for over and over again as an ingrained preference. One might say that women to opt for breast enlargement or enhancement surgery are taking a logical step to ensure that their genes are passed on. Penis enlargement surgery has not yet proved nearly as safe or effective; otherwise, I’m guessing, it would be just as popular.

90

I’m not necessarily pro-boob job, but I don’t think your analogy is correct. Nobody naturally has plates in their lips, that’s not natural for anyone.

Some women do have natural big nicely-shaped breasts. I’m sure many/most boob jobs are for women that just want to enhance what nature gave them. If there was a safe way to enlarge penises, I’m sure many men would do that too.

91

I agree with that. Poor self-esteem is not something that can be corrected with surgery.

But drugs! Hell, ya, those will make ya feel better! :wink:

A nurse I know recently remarked (on the topic of penis enlargement and “vaginal rejuvenation”) that “the porn industry has made it so people don’t know what they are supposed to look like anymore.” She has a good point. I don’t routinely compare Pinky the Monster to the monsters of my buddies (not that there’s anything wrong with that), so if porn was the only yardstick by which I measured myself :: ahem:: , I might wonder if I was normally endowed or not.

Likewise, I’ve met perfectly well-endowed girls who wondered if they were too small. Really, we’re all getting a skewed idea of what a human being is supposed to look like. Hint: not like anime characters.

92

See, that’s what I think is really weird! That someone would get a boob job and actually WANT people from her OFFICE to notice and comment? Bizarre!

93

Having lived with full Cs for over 20 years, now, and watching them slowly succumb to gravity, I am completely astounded that anyone would want to go bigger. Do these women really not see the big picture? Do they not understand gravity? Do they want to be the 60-80 year old lady on whom everything but those saggy, yet crazily pointy and round boobs has aged naturally? I do not get the thought process of these women at all? Going from an A to a full B or C? Ok, whatever makes you feel good. Going bigger than than? Looney Tunes! Even a moderate increase will still look somewhat odd as the rest of your body ages appropriately, right?

94

I don’t think it’s possible for a woman to get only one surgery for breast enhancement. IME, they go in over the years for ‘tune ups’ and, often, to get larger implants inserted. A friend of mine who got implants at 18 has a mother and grandmother with implants as well. The gran has been in and out of the hospital over the years for medical issues connected to the implants (exactly what, I’m not sure. She has back problems so that could be it, though her hospital stays have involved actual cutting into her breasts).

95

Only if they had freakishly large implants.

Women who have them as reconstructive surgery get nothing but applause and benevolent admiration.

96

I don’t think she wanted people to take a look at her and say “WHOA! Somebody inflated the life raft!” It was that nobody had noticed (or at least wouldn’t admit noticing) ANY change, not even “Wow, you look great - what’s different?” and it was getting to her. Maybe she was starting to fear that she spent all that money and wound up looking exactly the same.

And remember, she never mentioned it to anyone but me, her next-cubicle-over neighbor and confidant. She HAD to tell SOMEBODY, or she would have burst.

97

So you’re saying that maybe I COULD have put my finger on it? Or all ten of them? :smiley:

98

Since she talked to you about them in the first place (and SHOWED you!), I fully expect you could go up to her and get back on subject by asking “How are the boobs working out?”, and take it from there. “What do they feel like, do they feel different?..” :cool:

If there’s a sexual harassment lawsuit you didn’t get this advice from me. :smiley:

99

I should clarify that she didn’t remove her bra and make 'em dance for me or anything - she was wearing a low-cut top and I just admired her cleavage and the silk-clad curvature.

Plus, this was more than five years ago and we haven’t worked together for nearly that long. Darn. If she’d gone for the grope (for informational purposes, of course), I could have offered to check her for decreased nipple sensitivity.

100

From my perspective as someone who is quite emphatically against unnecessary cosmetic surgery, I think her time would be better spent learning to love herself as she is instead of saving up for an expensive and potentially lethal surgery. I can pretty much guarantee you that if she thinks her life would be perfect if she just had bigger boobs, she is wrong.