I can understand that some aging women feel they must get plastic surgery because they are on television or movies. These women most likely feel that their continued careers depend upon their youthful beauty. If these women sincerely feel they have no other alternative but to have facelifts and get other adjustments done to their bodies or they will lose their jobs or their ability to get jobs, I have some empathy for them.

But women who are in the entertainment industry are a small percentage. Most of us working-class ladies do not need to maintain a youthful appearance in order to secure our future money-making potential. So why do so many middle-aged women feel the need to go under the knife? Most of the women who have had work done end up losing their natural facial expressions and their unique identifying features. If you look at a picture of an actress when she was young and then see a picture of her after a few plastic operations, you will often not even recognize her. I find that very sad indeed. We are not our bodies. We occupy our bodies during our time here on this planet. So why we feel the need to spend our hard-earned money on our superficial suits is ridiculous when you stop to think about it.

I understand what you're saying that women aren't our bodies, but I also understand that as we age and things begin to naturally sag and we get wrinkles that maybe some confidence is lost. These women have been making their living on their looks their entire life, and suddenly 40, 45, 50, etc hits and they're starting to be cast as teachers or mothers or not get cast in roles at all.

In that same light I can understand how an average woman may not feel as sexy as she used to when she was younger, so she feels the need to go under the knife. Maybe her breasts are beginning to sag and she feels the need for a lift or all those years baking in the sun gained her some wrinkes and she feels the need for a face lift. I personally don't feel this this is necessarily a bad thing if done in moderation, especially if it'll boost the woman's confidence. Idealy a woman shouldn't need this to feel more confident, but the ideal situation doesn't work for all of us, so I do understand why some women do this.

When I was younger the thought of plastic surgery never entered my mind. I thought I would age gracefully and never had issues about my looks. It seem like it happened overnight when I noticed I looked old at the age of 53 the looks did not match my personality or how young I still feel. My bone of contention is my drooping eyelids and yes I would consider having something done just for the woman looking back at me in the mirror.

While I do agree that we are not or bodies, I am also very aware of the pressures to meet the "young and physically perfect" ideal our society puts on women of all ages. I think our culture as a whole has undergone many changes in the last 50 years or so that have had the affect of increasing this pressure exponentially. Not only has the image of the "perfect" woman grown smaller and smaller (except of course for the ample and perpetually perky bustline), but I think the morals, values, and attitudes have declined. We have become a disposable society, and this way of thinking has not spared the realm of commitment and relationships in the least. In my grandmother's generation divorce just wasn't an option. In my mother's it was the D word everyone feared and no one wanted to talk about. In my generation it has become not only the norm but actually expected. Dating younger is not only the norm, but expected of men, and competition in dating is almost a blood sport. With the wide acceptance and pervasiveness of plastic surgery, it too has become almost a necessity. Why accept yourself, flaws and all, when it's so much easier to have a doctor correct those flaws? Sadly, it seems we are becoming more an more shallow by the day, and incapable of seeing beyond the skin...