Big influencers are touting plastic surgery as the ‘road to confidence’ and this is just wrong.
I read the most recent @MrsRachelHollis book: Girl, Stop Apologizing, and she has a whole chapter on confidence.
She lists her # 1 way to rock your confidence is to focus on HOW YOU LOOK. She uses her choice to get breast implants as an example, and how it had a positive impact on her confidence. That’s cool & I get it, (hello, I had them) but her ‘argument’ behind getting them is not of service to women. This is how she validates it: “I was tired of my post-breastfeeding chest resembling tube socks filled with pudding”, and goes on to explain how she felt so much shame about them that she didn’t even want the attractive male anesthesiologist to see them when she was going in for her augmentation.
I heard a very similar rationale as I was listening to @chalenejohnson sharing that she got breast implants because her breasts looked like “wet socks filled with tennis balls” after breastfeeding her first child.
What we are seeing here is HUMILIATION about our looks & seeking VALIDATION to rationalize the decision to undergo cosmetic surgery.
This is NOT empowerment.
I once did this too, so I get it and it doesn’t come with judgment, but rather with grace and the hope we can have critical thinking around this.
Our confidence is suffering because WE keep perpetuating the focus on our looks & bodies as the value we bring as women
Personally I don’t think this is empowering. As a result, elective cosmetic surgery is being dismissed as routine, even celebrated, by the very women so many of us look up to for confidence and mindset coaching.
Women, even I love.
But how does this make a woman feel post-breastfeeding when she looks in the mirror if she can’t afford augmentation? Consider the confidence shift, if women speak more positively about their bodies and each other.
I want to see a #bodypositive & #selflove movement where we celebrate real bodies and elevate women through empowerment, not through validation for cosmetic surgery choices because we’re struggling to keep up with beauty standards and perpetuating societal norms.
I’d love to hear your thoughts below!
PS – For your consideration: Getting implants did give me confidence. But it wasn’t authentic, and it started a trend in my head that wavered in thoughts with ‘what can I fix next?’. Getting my implants out was the hard decision – and one that made me feel brave and built my confidence. I’m not saying I LOVE my breasts, but what I am saying is my confidence is up because I made this decision, and damnit, I’m proud of myself. For me, it’s these things that will continue to build my confidence. Not focusing on what in my looks I can perfect.
With love and integrity,
Ashley
