Editorial: Flash trade! Friday, 13 January 2012 03:12

With the evolution of technology and the rise of what can be called post-industrial societies, tinkering with one’s body for purely cosmetic and aesthetic reasons has reached gregarious proportions. Whether it be a nose going under the scalpel for a higher bridge or a tattoo etched on the lower back of someone given to a flashy obsession, changing bodily contours has been loved by a sensate culture. It has been abhorred by those who see it as the commodification of the human body and reviled by proponents of the theory that looks at the physical form as a divine gift.

The breast implant controversy that has raised a major storm across many countries, is a case in point when the subject of tinkering with one’s anatomy is discussed. Originating in France and the United Kingdom, the scare — precipitated by faulty implants produced by a French firm — has crossed the Atlantic to the West and reached central Europe (Czech Republic) to the east. In the latest attempt to contain hysteria generated by blobs made from industrial silicone instead of medicinal ones, Brazil has decided to compensate women whose implants have ruptured. Besides, PIP (Poly Implant Prothese), another Dutch firm is in the soup for using the defective implants. This is likely to lead to bringing to the fore more women who will be forced to have the faulty material cleaved from their bodies.

Reparatory surgery being funded by the state is fine, but in the first place, what is the compelling need of going for procedures that work only to fuel prurient instincts, one may ask. Social mores are relative and so are cultures. Hence, what is banal in Latin America or Europe may be carnal in eastern societies, but there is always a common line beyond which one should not defile nature’s best formation. Overstretching the theory of cultural relativism is not such a good idea, after all.

Some tribal women have been known to wear rings around the neck to make it grow longer, others have — in keeping with tradition — fiddled with their facial texture in various ways. Whatever substantially alters the shape or texture of any part of the body purely for aesthetic reasons is bound to have its own disbenefits. Attempts at elongating the neck may put excessive strain on the vertebra and piercings frequently result in complications.

The proliferation of cosmetic surgery can be seen in the light of Thorstein Veblen’s theory of conspicuous consumption — propounded by the sociologist-philosopher-thinker in his Theory of the Leisure Class (1899). He argued that consumption is often undertaken just to satisfy elitist cravings and as a prop to push up one’s social status. The fetish of enhancing bodily charm in egregious ways, hence, should be discouraged.