Girl Code Amendments

      Back in March the “The Shade Room” posted a screenshot of a tweet from Tory Lanez. It read “How you gone get ya ass done, and then start coming to the gram doing squats and workouts like u got that ass by being healthy and working out, if it aint real it aint real. We aint trippin…Lmao”. Yes, the deliver could have been better, but I did see his point. I commented on the post and said “I agree with this. If you had your butt done that is perfectly fine. It is your body, but I think we need to make it a part of Girl Code to be honest about the work we have had done with other females. A lot of women walk around thinking that there is something wrong with them because they don’t have the bodies, they admire not knowing that many times these bodies they want were paid for. There is nothing wrong with plastic surgery if that’s what you want, and we should end the stigma against it.” This comment received over 530 likes and many replies. Excited by my mirco level of Instagram fame I sent a screenshot of my comment to my friend group chat. I was a little shocked when one of my friends informed me that she was against plastic surgery. She explained to me that she was anti-plastic surgery because she felt that people who get plastic surgery get it as a result of insecurities and that instead of getting plastic surgery they need to work on internal healing. Her response was eloquent and genuine, but I disagreed.

    One reason my friend said she was against plastic surgery was because she felt that it was a result of societal influence.  I do believe that society can and, in many cases, does play a role in women wanting to change their physical appearance, but believing women only get surgery to look like others discredits women’s self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Women can be strong willed, confident, empowered and still want to have a bomb body. What they choose to do with their outsides should not take away from anything they possess on the inside.

     Let’s also end the idea that the media influences people so much that we can’t form our own opinions. My waist is small, and my butt is large. These two physical features have gotten me pretty far on the nice body scale but I still always wanted a larger bust. I see women in the media with large breast, small waist and big butts and say to myself “ That looks good, I would like to have that.” I formed this opinion for myself and it still never influence me to the point of pursuing plastic surgery. Me seeing these women also did not lead me to think my body was less than or needed an improvement.

     I shared my desire for a bigger bust with my friend and she informed that she felt if I never saw women with large breast I wouldn't want bigger breast. I saw this point as unfair. We do not live in isolation we live in a world with billions of other people. Women and men have admired the physical features of others for decades. Maybe social media has increased our comparisons, but they have always existed. People have always wanted straighter teeth, fuller lips, higher cheek bones etcetera because we saw these things, knew they were an option and thought “that would look good on me.” This doesn’t mean that we love ourselves any less.

     Any enhancements or alterations one makes should be solely for themselves. Any reason outside of that is a bad one. Plastic surgery should be a 100% selfish act. I don’t believe that you should get it because someone said you would look better with a smaller waist or if bea likes big boobs. If YOU look in the mirror and see something YOU want to change, YOU should go forward and do what YOU, please.   

 I would like to make the following amendments to Girl Code:

•          We will be honest with one another because you never know who you can help.
•          We will not judge others for the choices they made. Let us treat women with natural bodies the same as we treat those who have chosen to get plastic surgery.
•       We will empower each other to take control. If you see a female who is thinking about getting surgery make sure she is doing it because that is what she wants and then encourage her power to take control of what she wants.

Do you boo. I’m here for it either way!

Xoxo,

Sigourneyb