Eating Disorder ProAna Blogger Focused on Body Image and Self Esteem

I had to post a few images from the inside of the new book My Beautiful Mommy, since a peek inside makes this even more of a joke.

Check this out;

Pea-head Dr. Michael has been pumping some serious iron, and I doubt this dude has 8 legit certifications to hang on his wall.

Here Mommy dreams of being a beauty queen as she assures her little girl she needs to be prettier. Are you fricken kidding me?

Here Mommy explains in her half shirt and flat stomach how she is going to have a bandaged tummy and nose. Um…where exactly is this fat that is going to be removed from her midsection?

The author has stated this book was written partially for women who undergo surgery after pregnancy… but doesn’t explain what a nose job has to do with post pregnancy. What a total farce.

Sometimes I think I am in the twilight zone. Am I alone here?

-mamaV

New book on the market, just in time for Mother’s Day!

My Beautiful Mommy  is saving children from the psychological damage that occurs when their mom goes under the knife and comes back home unrecognizable. 

New nose, new boobs, a few tucks here and there…it ain’t mommy no more is it?

Totally warped cover of My Beautiful Mommy

According to Newsweek, The target market for this genius creation kids ages four to seven and features a plastic surgeon named Dr. Michael (a musclebound superhero type) and a girl whose mother gets a tummy tuck, a nose job and breast implants. Before her surgery the mom explains that she is getting a smaller tummy: “You see, as I got older, my body stretched and I couldn’t fit into my clothes anymore. Dr. Michael is going to help fix that and make me feel better.” Mom comes home looking like a slightly bruised Barbie doll with demure bandages on her nose and around her waist.

The text doesn’t mention the breast augmentation, but the illustrations intentionally show Mom’s breasts to be fuller and higher. “I tried to skirt that issue in the text itself,” says Salzhauer. “The tummy lends itself to an easy explanation to the children: extra skin and can’t fit into your clothes. The breasts might be a stretch for a six-year-old.”

The book doesn’t explain exactly why the mother is redoing her nose post-pregnancy. Nonetheless, Mom reassures her little girl that the new nose won’t just look “different, my dear—prettier!”

I am all for parents spending the time to explain to their children why they are compelled to beautify themselves, since why should the child suffer the consequences.  But the cover….c’mon.

I know from experience, children are very sensitive to how a parent looks, and they seriously react if a parent’s look changes. For me, my son used to freak when I took off my glasses, its like he did not even recognize me. He would look up at me, kind of scared, and I was surprised by that. Even today, if I pop in contacts for a night out, both kids say “mom, you look weird, we like you with your glasses.”

A few other random thoughts to ponder:

What do you think about the word “Beautiful” in the title? There’s all sorts of twisted things I start thinking about here, especially for daughters who are likely to start thinking beautiful equals fix, cut and change.

Remember the show The Swan? I read a story about one of the contestants that could not adapt to her new beautiful face, and regretted her decision since she ended up feeling like she lost her family heritage and connections because she looked so drastically different than her mothers and siblings. I never really thought of this as a consequence of plastic surgery, did you?

I am rambling here, but I felt like bringing up various topics for discussion. Plus it’s Friday and I am wiped out, looking forward to the weekend.

Love you all,

mamaV

Feet broken in two. Necks stretched beyond recognition. Lips as big as saucers.

All this, in the name of beauty.

ODDITORIUM

We visited Ripley’s Believe It or Not in Hollywood earlier this week during our family vacation. We went there just because we all love seeing freaky stuff, but I didn’t expect the “Odditorium” to give a haunting, historical view of the beauty tortures women have endured since the beginning of time. As I looked at these old torture treatments, I realized our newer inventions such as botox, and lipo are no different – just another version of the same old bullshit.

Hollywood, and generally Los Angeles as a whole, is about pushing, pulling, and squeezing your God given normal body and face into the oddest shapes and sizes, in order to fit the in at Freak Zone Central.

THE OSCARS

Promos for The Oscars covered the elegant facades of historical buildings throughout the town. Lisa Rinna glanced down upon us from billboards plastered with her ballooned out lips and frozen features, glossed up to stir male hormones into a tizzy. I guess this chick has some sort of sex appeal, is a sci-fi kind of way, but even my teenage nephews couldn’t quite grasp what her deal was. Her look is so totally foreign to us Midwesterners (seriously, seeing a young woman with a boob job in our town is relatively rare occurrence, so lips like hers are hard to ignore).

Lisa Rinna post and pre lip injection

Why in the name of God is it attractive to squirt so much collagen, or fat, or botox, or whatever the hell she had needled into her naturally elegant, simply gorgeous doll like face? This face no longer resembles a human one, but some sort of twisted soul exposed until it cracks. And trust me, it’s gonna crack. It probably already has, we just don’t see that side of the story.

Don’t get me wrong, I totally dig this stuff. I’m not trying to rip this poor woman to shreads, it’s just so totally over the top to me, that I have to share.

To observe this beauty chase in action will always fascinate me. Knowing that I was one of the privileged few granted the chance to be part of this glam world, and having enough sense to walk away before it ate me alive, is quite satisfying.

It seems a lifetime ago, but I remember, taking it, and running with it, as any sane 16 year old would. But then, I opted to get out alive, unpimped, and

plastic-fied. What I didn’t expect is this decision would grant me a ticket to freedom.

It’s the Golden Ticket. Let the wrinkles come I say, bring on the sag. I can take it, because trust me, it ain’t no picnic on the other side and there is no way I am ever going back to that hell hole that it seems everyone is determined to head down into.

RODEO DRIVE

Onto Rodeo Drive. The most famous alley of smoke and mirrors in the US of A.  Master marketers spend every waking moment creating their shop displays designed of glitter, greed, and pure narcissism, guaranteed to drive in the weary in droves. Crisp, slick bills are peeled from the palms of their rich & famous clientele, as the perfectly orchestrated mirages of beauty unfold inside, where the pitch is the ever allusive promise of self worth and esteem.

We didn’t even bother to park, just a drive by was in order for this place. As we gawked out the windows of our mini-van, huge, gleaming logos of Chanel, Jimmy Choo, and St. John’s whizzed past and perfectly polished shops caught our attention as they stood eerily empty, untouched; waiting for the bell to be rung.

This is where Jessica Simpson purchased an $800 pair of underwear. A multitude of movie stars are regularly spotted darting in and out of their Towncars, in search of some piece of everyday fabric, dressed up to be the end all be all of happiness, promised to bring them eternal youth in this hell city of vultures just waiting to suck their self esteem dry.

Tick tock goes the clock.

LA MAGAZINE

Back at the hotel, I sat back and to read LA Magazine, only to be further absorbed in this culture of who’s hot and who’s not. I stumbled on an article about little girl’s birthday parties, that frankly, didn’t even surprise me. Modeling “themed” extravaganzas are all the rage for LA’s finest 2^nd and 3^rd graders, where loving parents fork over up to $40 grand to allow their princesses to walk the catwalk for their girlfriends.

Don’t have a big issue with this really, since I do believe it is quite natural to want to have your 15 minutes of fame, even at age 9. But $40K? C’mon, that’s an annual income for a lot of folks where I come from, the level of greed is kind of over the top don’t you think?

MELROSE AVE.

We wrapped up our trip, but inadvertently crashing a private party at the new Burton shop on Melrose. We were just sort of shopping, no one kicked us out, so we figured we may as well enjoy it. My nephews scored a bag of freebies for their girlfriends, I hung out and played Guitar Hero amongst our new LA hip and trendies, and the kids filled up goodie bags filled with pixie sticks.

PAPARAZZI

From there we spotted the paparazzi stalking some Candies sponsored event, so my daughter and I hiked it in the rain to catch a glimpse of the action. Turned out the stars from Heroes were arriving, don’t watch the show, but it was fun to see them get the star treatment, or get snubbed, even by the paparazzi if they are currently not a recognizable face.

HOME SWEET HOME

We are all on the plane now, headed back to good ole’ Milwaukee. Sore feet, tired out, and ready to be home in our own beds, in our cozy home, on our big lot, safe and sound.

My nephews are all pumped to live out in LA in the near future. I hope they both go for it. I have no doubt my worldly travels totally prepared me for the real world. The world where not everyone likes you, nor cares, nor pretends to care.

That life lesson is somehow easier to swallow when you’ve been rejected multiple times for daring to have a pimple on your face.

-mamaV

I stumbled upon a book last weekend, Beauty Junkies by Alex Kuczynski. The stories told by this New York Times Style reporter are literally stunning.

Alex worked the beauty beat for years, in one of America’s most plastic obsessed cities, riddled with wannabes from all ages, and lifestyles. She tells of male lawyers obsessed with botox injections, because they need to have that perfect “poker face” in court.

Botox injections are recommended no more than every 6 months, but these dudes rotate dealers, I mean doctors, every 8-9 weeks for their necessary fix.

Liposuction for the feet, botox in the wrinkles of the palms. I wish I was kidding.  

And I know all about Body Dismorphic Disorder, but I suspect that in the majority of cases Alex details in her book, BDD is not the culprit. Our good old friend Self Esteem is lacking in these individuals, and lacking badly.

Take Mrs. X, the wife of a powerful Hollywood Executive (she refrained from revealing her real name). She manages her daily schedule around  primping and pumping needs. “It is her profession, hobby, passion, and primary relationship,” Alex explains. 

Hairdresser: 2 times per week for color, style, stripping, you name it.

Exercise: Daily tennis for toning

Skin: Self Tanner (separate one for face, body and hands), once a week a facialist steams her pores and gently squeezes them, Marina Chicet Brain Lipid Serum slathered on the face daily to allow the cow brain extract to conceal her wrinkles.

Water: Only Penta, due to the high-energy sound waves that are used to make this water more hydrating than any other.

Vitamins: Murad Wet Suit to build collagen, and a cup of probiotic blue-green algae each morning for who the hell knows what.

Nails: Twice per week, buffed not polished, for a younger look.

State of Mind: Rolfing treatments in a series, not sure how many sessions that includes.

Makeup: She does not leave the house, without a professional appling her makeup. Oh, and her makeup artist has an assistant.

Teeth: Cleaned every 8 weeks, natural ones are whitened, veneers replaced annually

Eyebrows: Tweezed and tinted every other week.

Eyes: Lasik perfect.

Doctor visits: monthly, utilizing various techniques including Gore-Tex, Botox, collagen, Retylane, Artecoll.

Plastic surgeon visits: consultations 3 times per year, about 1 surgery annually.

Procedures done: liposuction, tummy tuck, two variations of a brow lift and face lift, upper eyes, lower eyes, implants twice (first batch were not large enough).

And finally – Labiaplasty. Yep, trimming and tucking of the vagina, you know, to make them “neat and tidy” as Mrs. X explains. Labiaplasty happens to be the fastest growing area of plastic surgery. You can even have lipo on the pad of fat on the top of your vagina, making wearing tight dresses much easier! (Quote from a plastic surgeon not me!)

I am exhausted just thinking about this woman’s schedule. Exhausted, and so very sad for her. This quote encompasses her lack of self worth in a nutshell.

Alex asks her ” Is it difficult to be the wife of a powerful guy in Hollywood?

“How do you mean,” Mrs. X inquires.

“Do you ever wish you had a career?” Alex states.

There is a briefest of pauses.

“No, because I was never really going to be that good at anything,” she says. “Or at least I was never going to be so good at anything that I would have made a difference.”

 Damn, I am glad to be me.

-mamaV

Dr. Donna West had absolutely everything going for her. Her son a rap star, herself a retired English Professor for Chicago State University, a recently published author, co-founder of Kanye’s Foundation dedicated to improving the nation’s drop out rates.

Why then is she dead?

Beauty attack at 58 years of age.

With fame and money comes vanity. Her quest is a familiar story, an aging woman looking to take off a few curves here and there. Except for Dr. Donna, she suffered complications. She will now miss out on all life had in store for her and it is  doubtful her son will ever be the same. 

Are we nuts?

I mean seriously, how has this society been conned into believing that sucking fat out of various parts of our bodies is normal? Then we take it a step further and inject that same fat elsewhere. I just don’t get it. There is so much at stake.

I’ve had a few times in my life I have had the opportunity to alter what I looked like.

At 16, my agent offered to spring for a boob job. I didn’t even blink before responding ”Hell no.” Then at around 30 years of age, I could no longer wear my contacts, so I seriously considered laser eye surgery. No go. As a mother, I would never, ever forgive myself if I could not see my children grow up, so asking a doctor to take a knife to my eyeballs was out of the question.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not blaming Donna West for her actions. I feel very sad for her. Sad that she took the bullet. Sad that 11million people will follow in her footsteps this year as they go about their beauty quest. Sad that as a society we just are not getting it.

Are you one to think there’s no harm in a nip and tuck here and there?

Read Backlash, by Susan Faludi.

I will never forget reading this book in college for a Women’s Study course I took. Faludi outlines, in agonizing detail, the great lengths we are willing to look pretty.  Honest to god, if you can get through this book and still believe cosmetic plastic surgery is the route to go;

I give up.

mamaV