Pakistan has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. Islam is the official religion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.This means many women cover their faces partly or fully in public. Lookism in Pakistan? In light of these figures, a lot of women probably wear veils in Pakistan. Thus, it's amazing that lookism is a problem in this Islamic country, just as it is in the West. While I've not delved into all the whys and wherefores of "veiling" women's faces, I do … [Read more...]
Lookism: Plus-Sized, bi-racial women photoshopped ’round the world.
Make me beautiful. Last year in June, a freelance journalist asked artists from 19 countries around the world to photoshop her face with instructions to make me “beautiful.” The hope was that in altering her face, the artists and/or designers involved in the project would (subconsciously?) access their personal and cultural constructs of beauty. The results of the "Before-After" effort went viral, and the journalist was written up in Time and the Chicago Tribue and appeared on CNN and … [Read more...]
New Year’s Resolution: give back like this cleft lip girl.
A heartwarming CBS news story caught my attention the other day.* It's about a young cleft lip girl (adopted from a Chinese orphanage) who donates stuffed animals to fire and police departments. The idea is for officers to give them to the kids they encounter who're caught up in the stressful situation they're responding to. So, please add one more New Year's resolution to your list, or replace one that you've already broken. The resolution is simply to give back in 2015, mindful of the … [Read more...]
How to be attractive to others—a New Year’s Eve PSA.
If you've been following my blog, you know that I rail against lookism most of the time. In the spirit of fair play, tho, I'm featuring tips today garnered from recent research about how men and women can enhance their chances of being physically attractive to the opposite sex. This might come in handy New Years Eve, even for couples who've already attracted the partner of their dreams (never hurts to repackage the product.) This is a public service announcement, therefore. PSA's … [Read more...]
Disability Freak shows——Hits and misses.
Perhaps you saw the "Side Show" song and dance number during Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year production. It intrigued me how the two female leads were able to stay "conjoined" at the hips or shoulders through the difficult dance maneuvers. Conjoined twins. "Side Show"— not-so-disabled twins. Perhaps you've also seen episodes of "Freak Show," part of the American Horror Story anthology broadcast on the cable television channel FX in the United States. It features a variant on a … [Read more...]
Celeb Heroes help repair cleft lips and palates.
Just found out about a bunch of celebs like Gwen Stefani* and Harrison Ford** who’ve signed holiday tree ornaments, which are being auctioned off on eBay. Go here to bid before the December 16 deadline to get an autographed, quality Balsam Hill*** ornament—perhaps for a song (many are $7 to $70 at the moment)—to benefit OperationSmile. As you may know, the non-profit Operation Smile provides free cleft lip and cleft palate surgery to children in more than 60 countries. Cleft lip and palate: … [Read more...]
Face transplant judgment—Successful, Ethical?
Tackling the controversy about face transplants and judging their worth isn't easy, even if it's a qualitative assessment as the following will be. A registry of all transplant patients promises to allow a more quantitative assessment in the future. In my last blog, I did say that—no matter the judgment—facial transplants strike me as a better use of scarce surgical skills and resources than the endless tummy tucks and face lifts that dominate today's plastic surgery landscape. It's clear from … [Read more...]