Would you allow plastic surgery to avoid bullying?

[my2sweets]

Jen.mcc-Thats good! That wasnt my experience (or my friends)unfortunitly. Maybe we just went to school with some real aholes. I even ran into a guy years after elementary(when he teased my friends and I) and the first thing out of his mouth was what he used to call me.

[monkeymama07]

Originally Posted by my2sweets Jen.mcc-Thats good! That wasnt my experience (or my friends)unfortunitly. Maybe we just went to school with some real aholes. I even ran into a guy years after elementary(when he teased my friends and I) and the first thing out of his mouth was what he used to call me.

what a jerk... I thought people were supposed to grow up

[monkeymama07]

Im not talking health reasons purely cosmetic to avoid bullying

[vatblack]

OP, you ask how society has come to this point, but I have to tell you that society has been "at this point" for at least 34 years.

When I was 7 years old, I was hospitalized for a bladder problem. A friend of mine happened to be in the same hospital to have her ears pinned back. In fact, she looked a lot like this girl in the article. I am talking about 1978!

All through my childhood, if you came from a family with health insurance, they would cover for pinning back ears for children. It was seen as a very helpful thing for them and not at all a beauty thing. I don't know how to explain it... It was kind of in the same category as fixing crooked teach with braces. Just something you did to help the kid live a better life. Some people bothered and others didn't.

I don't know why this is such an issue. Pinning back ears is just something you choose to do or not to do.

[vatblack]

DP fairy got me!

[RainandRedemption]

For cosmetic reasons, to avoid bullying? No way. Not everything in life has to be "fixed". A lot of things have to dealt with, and learning how to do that is pretty foundational to living a healthy life.
And what's wrong with the way that girl looked anyway?

[newmommy13]

Having crooked teeth has health implications from proper jaw alignment to greater risk of decay. Does having ears sticking out have any possible physical health risks?

Although i would never allow my child at 10 to have any cosmetic procedure i think that ear pinning is in a different category than a nose job.

[momomom]

My ds just took a free class at this awesome taekwondo (sp?) studio. They have this big program on stopping bullying and I was REALLY impressed and so was dh. The atmosphere there was really upbeat and matter-of-fact about the reality of bullying, how to handle it, how to hget help, and the need for people to care for one another.

So I think something like that would be a far more positive way to deal with bullying.

There was zero bullying where I went to school- more like snobbery and cliques- but he and his sisters dealt with serious bullying.

AND, all 4 of his sisters were drop-dead gorgeous... they still got bullied and so did he. His oldest sister just got really good at fighting. Not good, obvioulsy, but my point is that despite perfect looks, bullies might still pick on you.

I would only consider cosmetic surgery for non-health reasons if it was like op said, a growth that could easily be removed.

I agree that ear-pinning is kinda different than a nose-job. But to tell you the truth, till right now I've never even heard of ear-pinning. My SIL is a beautiful woman, but her ears do stick out and she has always been self-conscious about it, so, IDK.

We do homeschool and so bullying is simply not a topic that comes up for us, period.

It seems like 2 separate issues to me- 1 is bullying and how should it be dealt with, and 2 is can cosmetic surgery be appropriate for kids given the message it sends them about their physical appearance. KWIM?

[momomom]

Ew, I just read the article. It wasn't just the ears... they totally made her over- that is going way too far, IMO. That really does say, imo, how you look is more important than who you are.

Also, the before pic was specifically chosen to make her look ugly and the after pic is taken from the most flattering angle possible, good lighting, nice shirt.

This is a far cry from the SmileTrain people who do cleft palate surgeries for kids.

[luvsviola]

It depends for me, too. I hesitate to say NO because I had my eyes corrected three times--18 months, 3, and 22 years old, due to lazy eye. The third one was mostly cosmetic, though there are some fatigue benefits as well. I was teased incessantly.