Men paying to have their jaws broken in the name of ‘manliness’
gq-magazine.co.ukIt sounds horrifying, but I don't think these men are that irrational. Being good looking is the recipe for living life on easier mode, and a very thin sliver of bone on a man's face can be the difference from being far below average looking to far above average looking. It seems entirely rational to make a short-term sacrifice for a good life.
If you're against this, have you thought about the intense frustration and pain some men feel in their lives to even consider something this extreme? I'm not saying I'd do it or recommend it, but I understand why somebody would think about that.
But the article itself lists less drastic procedures as options:
> As technology has advanced, bringing with it cheaper, and less invasive procedures like injectable fillers and Botox, the “superhero jawline”, or the “GI Jaw”, as one surgeon has marketed it, is increasingly available to all.
Perhaps even if one agrees in principle that people should be free to pursue cosmetic surgery as they see fit, one could still have qualms about massive operations that are medically unnecessary?
I'd say 2 things.
1) I would of course recommend avoiding surgery where possible.
2) If there are other potential medical treatments for this kind of thing, I'd assume they have different kinds of tradeoffs in these respects: pain, risk of complications, length of recovery, odds of success, and cost, among others. It's hard to judge what the best treatment option for any individual is without knowing the pros and cons of all of the potential options. Maybe non-surgical options are much safer, but have far lower odds of success? I have no idea.
Gender affirming care for cis people—same as breast augmentation, hair transplants or hormonal/endocrine modifications.
… legs broken in the name of being taller, all sorts of weird injections, etc.
One of my son’s friends got into the wheat waffles and Tik Tok rabbit hole, refused my offer to teach him weightlifting but stole money from his mom to buy steroids, broke contact with my son because my son is taller and doesn’t want to be “heightmogged”. It’s crazy, it’s self-loathing, it is all about pathological narcissism but people writing about it can’t get past “misogyny” which is prevalent in that community but I’d say not primary.
> it is all about pathological narcissism
I don't think so. I think it's just about biological need to secure a suitable mate. Men are convinced (not entirely without basis) that you need to be hyper-competitive this day and age to even have a chance at procreating and young impressionable minds fall for it big time. I don't see what it has to do with "misogyny", the fact that women prefer taller guys is just common knowledge. Until now men didn't really have options, now they have leg lengthening.
This kid is so isolated he never really got rejected by girls.
My son has another friend who is so isolated to be ann American Hikkiomori. That person is starting to think “it” is trans mostly because the only other person who spends time talking to “it” is an egg-Hatcher who has nothing better to do. Fortunately “it” is so depressed that “it” can’t clean “its” room and isn’t going to have the motivation or energy to leave the house and do all the hard work of transitioning. My son is convinced that “it” doesn’t know anything about real life women and gets all of “it(s)” ideas about women from hololive (talks like somebody from hololive.)
Many kids today are in deep trouble, I’ll say that.
I see no evidence that's close to universally true. Maybe a small number who have "gone down the tik-tok rabbit hole" as mentioned, but most people don't think in these terms.Men are convinced ...I was addressing about subjects who obsess about surgeries. They are absolutely correct that looks matter big time and that they act as an amplifier of sorts (studies prove good looking people get treated better, have better career options, are seen as more intelligent, better romantic prospects, etc). However, the problem is they obsess about it to point of becoming unhealthy mentally. If a surgery can make you way better looking and the risks are relatively minimal, it is just a good, long-term bet to take. Problem is when the thinking becomes "cultish" or when BDD takes reign over ones mind. Generally not a problem for matured, analytical minds, but can mess up teenagers real bad, especially since they still haven't done growing.
Wheat waffles? Cursory google, is it actually just a guy you pay to send pictures to and he gives you a rating out of 10?
... and who bitches that he doesn't have as many followers on Youtube as many stupid gamestreamers. He's got a cult following and people who joined his Discord received an email from Discord to the effect of "Did you know you joined a hate group? You'd better watch which Discords you join..."
What is a wheat waffle?
This article was very click baity. Supposedly tech workers are getting invasive cosmetic surgery because they look at themselves all day on Zoom. The author highlights an insecure man who says he was border line suicidal. The reader is left believing that fringe online culture is making young men engage in drastic surgeries to be chad like.
Here is an alternate hypothesis: People with expendable income, or the insecure, are paying for cosmetic surgery just like they always have.
This is probably a sensationalist exposé on a very very niche sub-subculture, but this just goes to show, for every modern societal ill, there is a much dumber and counterproductive "cure" peddled by those who know how to make good money.
I don't think i's sensationalist. I'm somewhat familiar with this community (they're overrepresented on 4chan, which I study a lot) and this reads like a very fair summary of their discourse/anxieties.
These guys have some latent homosexual tendencies (not that it's a bad thing per se obviously).
But I don't think it's controversial to say that male models and Hollywood actors are not exactly manly figures.
Why do we have to shame people for cosmetic or gender affirming surgery?
Shame is your word, but we do need to have a voice of reason telling people that cosmetic surgery is stupid, regardless of your reasons. Undergoing actual surgery can kill you and when used for emotional reasons generally doesn't produce the results you want anyways.
And yes, all cosmetic surgery. I know someone who almost died from complications from a simple facelift.
There's an industry pushing these useless surgeries, and of course hostile communities (pro-ana, etc) pushing people into them or into the mental illness that makes them attractive. The more people who speak out about the need to modify yourself to be happy, the better.
People do things literally every day that can lead to death. Speaking about the risks without talking about the rewards is irrelevant.
Or you need to have an argument that isn't about the risks.
Yeah, generally the pro-X communities convey the benefits more then well enough and downplay the risks.
And there often is no benefit - an anorexic would not be helped by liposuction even though I acknowledge they feel they would.
Disgusting clickbait title. You could say this about any surgery.
Right, and people should. Chopping up the bodies of insecure people is bad for society even if it's good for surgeons.
> “I think I’ve done everything I can do for myself with looks, really,” he says. “Now it’s just about my personality.”
and a new look will not help with that.
Whatever happened to "squats and oats?"
Those people think working out at the gym just makes you an ugly MF like me.