From a critique of the plastic surgery/beauty industry from the Australian Socialist Party. Even after one decodes or ignores the propaganda in this article, the end result is a gloomy view of pharmas and the aesthetic industry in general. Women and advertising: Low self-esteem is good for profits:
For working class women who cannot afford expensive surgery, it often means that they are driven to undergo dangerous surgery in unlicensed clinics or to take out loans to pay the cost.
This drive towards ‘perfection’ has started to affect the confidence of not just women, but younger girls too.
Recent statistics show that girls as young as six years old are concerned about their weight. Rather than magazines for teenage girls explaining how to lead a healthy lifestyle, there is page after page of quick fix diets, how to style hair and how to wear make-up.
This is not to say that it is wrong to take care over your appearance but the idea that the only way to succeed as a woman is through the way that you look is very damaging.
One arm of the beauty industry that perhaps is the most damaging is the wide range of diets and related products now available. The vast majority of people on slimming schemes and diet pills regain any weight lost.
These quick-fix approaches only link losing weight to ‘looking good’ rather than any health benefits. This leads to an attitude to dieting that is dangerous for many women, as highlighted by the multiple deaths of underweight models in recent years.
Profit is put above the safety of workers and consumers in the beauty industry. The US Food and Drug Administration estimates that 89% of ingredients used in beauty products have not passed safety laws.
