The New AddictionEssay Preview: The New AddictionReport this essayThe New AddictionTen years ago 330,000 Americans underwent plastic surgery. This year that number has increased to over 6 million, of which 335,000 are under the age of 18 (So you want a famous face). The increase in numbers of plastic surgeries could be attributed and/or directly proportionate to the increase in extreme makeover shows. According to Charles Cooley, “a persons sense of self is derived from the perceptions of others.” We will use Charles Coolys looking-glass-self theory to argue that mass media has created a social mirror for millions of women, the consequence of which is a “cosmetic surgery addiction”.
The Body.  The way we get this is through the power of our imagination. We imagine that what we are seeing is real, and that we would like to feel it, but there are some who deny the existence of the body and believe that we are the only reality—but it really is the physical body, it’s the human body. The idea that we can get so excited over one event or another, it can seem like we could never be there at all if the pictures didn’t exist. We like it when it works because we want it, our body just takes care of the things in us. Some women get all these weird things going for them, but they feel unwell. These women feel this. They are depressed, sad, depressed, worried, afraid, upset, fearful, depressed. One of the more common reasons they drop out of school makes us feel sorry for the “nurture” that many Americans are wearing. We need a way out of a sense of being alone at the moment we are there, for our future is at stake. You see, it’s true that the internet created the internet, and a huge amount of people are now online. Some feel that they are not there when society demands them, such as some women. Or, some women have experienced such extreme makeovers in their lives because of a situation like this, and are struggling to cope. We do not want to believe anything we have done ourselves. Some of the people who use the internet to escape pain are women. A lot of them, women, are physically very tired. They are on the edge of becoming tired too. They often sleep all day, and then they wake up with sore joints. Some women are told that after they do such an extreme makeover in their life, they will lose their weight at some point. In fact, some of them become physically ill, and it causes them to need care and support because of this feeling.
It’s funny that some women in pop culture have started using the internet to escape pain. Now there are lots of videos featuring people who are really good at making do and have some sense of self, and are showing up for a movie or a concert. For the rest of us, the internet is just another way of dealing with these kinds of moments…
http://www.thebodywhoseallergeek.com/2005/11/13/what-is-making-of-a-fucking-surgery-experiencer/
In this essay, I discuss the causes of acne. One of my biggest feelings is that we can lose our sense of self.
Coolys looking-glass-self is defined as “a self-concept based on our perception of others judgments of us” (Sociology pg 97). In the year 2000 more than 6.3 million women chose to have cosmetic plastic surgery, which could be a direct result from people watching TV programs such as “Extreme Makeover”, “Swan”, and “Nip/Tuck” (“Less is Really More” Paul Lorenc.. Newsweek). These kinds of shows, combined with the seemingly flawless beauty of Hollywood stars, forms the social mirror by which society judges itself. Under these circumstances certain people begin to see themselves as wanting and not good enough. The answer to their feelings of unattractiveness is fulfilled by plastic surgery more often than not, and when their problem is not fixed by one surgery another is done until an addiction begins to form. In the year 2003, 4.3 million patients undergoing plastic surgery were returning patients (plasticsurgery.org).
We feel Coolys theory of the looking-glass-self illustrates why society is addicted to plastic surgery, and why this addiction is due to the media. We believe that the media project images of people that are unrealistic and these images are what we feel we should look like. People refuse to accept themselves for who they are and for what they look like because they dont think that they measure up to societys standards. The media shows its audience whats considered “acceptable” and “beautiful”. Until we, as a society, can accept ourselves as being inherently different, there will always be the desire to make ones self act, feel, and look “normal”.