A filled-out bosom or a bosom-filled with love, that is the question.
The headline is a translation of a Bangla movie's promo – Shunyo e buke – the story of Saumitra and Churni, two artistes, who meet through common friends, fall in love, brave displeased families and economic disparity and get married. On their wedding night Saumitra is shocked to discover that Churni is flat-chested. His shock then turns to anger and hurt with him accusing Churni of ‘cheating’ him since she wore padded bras.
Padded bras, under-wired bras, rounded bras, push-up bras, diminishing bras and a plethora of other ‘specialised’ bras are all designed for one purpose: To beautify the appearance of a woman’s breasts. As long as there are women unhappy with their breasts, there will be a market for products and procedures that remove that unhappiness. And going by given figures, there are many women unhappy with their breasts.
According to The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), the United States alone had 3,99,440 women going in for breast augmentation or enhancement in 2007. Another 1,53,807 went in for a reduction in their breast size. Those are the numbers in one country for a single year; the global figures are bigger and growing by the day.
While rising figures for breast augmentation/ reduction definitely mean more profits for the plastic/cosmetic surgery industry, do made-to-order breasts mean happier women? And why are so many women unhappy about their breasts in the first place?
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The ASAPS breast augmentation home page says, “Women may choose to under go breast enlargement surgery for various reasons. These personal reasons may center around breasts that are perceived to be under-developed, or because of differences in the sizes of the breasts or from changes after pregnancy or breast-feeding. Some women may be happy with their breasts but just want them made fuller… Breast enhancement using breast implants can give a woman more proportional shape and may improve self esteem.”
Whatever might be the immediate stimulus, ‘may improve self esteem’ seems to be the primary reason for women to go in for these procedures. In a quick email survey of 18 people – 11 women, 7 men – it was unanimously agreed that while it was a woman’s personal choice to go under the scalpel, those who did were suffering from low self-esteem. They viewed themselves as lesser than the image of what a woman is supposed to look like.
There’s no denying the fact that breasts play a significant part in the ‘attractive quotient’ of a woman. Popular myth has it that most men prefer bigger breasts. Perhaps not Lolo Ferrari but definitely an Angelina Jolie. Flip through any ‘lad magazine’ and there are more pictures of women with big breasts – naturally or surgically enhanced – than those with small breasts. Think ‘hot woman’ and the most media-propagated, Accepted Image is of a woman with luscious, proportionate, anti-gravity big breasts.
So what happens when a woman’s breasts – whether bigger or smaller – do not adhere to the Accepted Image? She feels ridiculed, feels she’s lacking and thinks she is not as attractive as other women to the point that at times her entire personality suffers. Looking good is important in today’s world (and I daresay in the previous ones as well) and with women being constantly told they have to look a certain image, the numbers going to great lengths to achieve that goal are increasing.
Take the case of the movie quoted at the beginning of the story. Churni was born with small breasts and had to pad up to avoid jibes. Eventually her husband – who is in love with her – rejects her for not having his idea of what breasts are supposed to be. It makes one wonder: How do men react to the whole enhancement idea?
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For the few men asked on the survey, implants or not did not matter as long as the breasts made the women “feel good about themselves” and as long as the breasts “felt real”. It all boiled down to personal choice and the feel good factor of enhancement. The women though divided over the judiciousness of having implants were pretty clear they did not want it.
Says Penelope, 26, singer and performer, “I don't like the thought of putting plastic inside something that is made for feeding your baby milk. It just seems wrong. I think that obviously beauty comes from within first. Women who choose to have implants, have an idea in their heads of what the feminine form should be, and what ‘sexy’ is. They want that image staring back at them when they look in the mirror. They want to feel and look sexy, for themselves and for others. Perhaps they feel like the only way they will truly feel like a woman, and feel sexy, is to have these breasts stuck on their chests… Each to her own I say. But I don’t think surgery is the answer to finding happiness, or ‘sexiness’.”
Ask Aanchal, 23, if she would go undergo surgery and she says, “If I go by all the media, I DO need implants. However, I’d never get them ‘fixed’ as I’d feel weird having a body that’s not really mine.” For Megha, 24, it’s all about being comfortable with herself. “I don't think people should get judgmental about girls who get it done. It is all right to get a b**b job if it makes her feel better about herself but it is something that isn't really for me: After years of being unsure about myself, I think I am perfectly at ease with it now and totally happy about it as well.” For Sarah, 25, it’s about proportion, “I don't have a problem with breast implants as long as they are in proportion to a woman’s size, i.e. a size zero woman with DD's is so unattractive; but breast implants can help a woman’s self esteem in some cases.”
Helping in self-esteem and making them feel happy about their own image: Can changing breast size really do all that? No if latest research is to be believed. An August 2007 study published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery revealed that women who’ve undergone breast enlargements are dying. It’s not due to cancer caused by silicone – another popular myth – but because these women have higher suicide risks and are three times as likely to commit suicide than other women. Loren Lipworth of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee and colleagues followed up on 3,527 Swedish women who had cosmetic breast implant surgery between 1965 and 1993. They looked at death certificates to analyze causes of death among women with breast implants. The results were shocking.
Not only were the surgically enhanced women three times likely to commit suicide, they also had a tripled risk of death from alcohol and drug use. If women are undergoing surgery to look better and feel happier, why do the figures say otherwise? Lipworth believes that some women who get implants may have psychiatric problems to start with, perhaps linked with lower self-esteem or body image disorders. And once you have it fixed in your head that you don’t look good, surgery really does not help.
Self-esteem and self-image are how and what we think of ourselves. Yes, it's not easy for everyone to feel secure about their looks if the constant message is "You don't fit in". However confidence comes from within and is not made of silicone. It's good to remember that breasts are a part of a woman, they are not the woman. If at all a woman wants to undergo surgery, perhaps it’s prudent to think about the reasons twice. And as Penelope says, “There are so many other ways to be sexy, people just need to be a bit more creative!”
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