Dress Me Now - For Our Daughters

With great horror, I recently listened to a youthful acquaintance regale me with tales of the plastic surgeries endured by her peers. From puberty to young womanhood, she tells of young girls who have had "boob" jobs, rhinoplasties, tummy tucks and thigh reductions.

The most horrific fact was that many of these girls were proudly delivered to the operating table by their mothers.

What was the number one reason given by these mothers for the alteration of the healthy body parts that they gave birth to? They wanted to boost their daughter's self-esteem. I wonder, did these mothers ever think that the cost of most of these plastic surgeries could have paid for several semesters of college? In today's competitive, results oriented world, a young woman needs to bring a lot more to the table than silicone.

What are these mothers thinking? They are reinforcing in their daughter's very impressionable minds that women need to change - physically or mentally - to become socially acceptable. Are any of these mothers pushing their boys to fit in "by any means necessary"?

Actually, the title of this article comes from an ancient text you may have heard of -- the Bible. It seems that efforts to make women more socially acceptable has been on humanity's "to do" list for a very long time.

In ancient China, women with small feet were all the rage. So by the time many girls were three years old, their toes were broken and their feet were bound to keep them from growing. Looks like they had supportive mothers, too.

In Afghanistan today, the perfect woman is housebound, uneducated, unemployed, silent and draped in heavy veils from head to toe. The penalty for any form of self-expression by a woman could be death.

Even in today's Vatican, women must cover their heads with veils to receive an audience with the Pope.

In Africa, parts of a girl's genitals are removed without anesthesia to make them better wives.

In the United States, plastic surgery for young girls is growing. This practice is acceptable … the doctors use anesthesia.

The next time you find yourself in a situation where you're being treated differently because you're female, don't be silent. Ask "why". And keep asking until you get a rational answer -- which is unlikely because discrimination is never rational. Then keep asking until the situation changes.

Why are there still customs and laws aimed solely at women? Why are we still sliced, diced, dwarfed and controlled for the benefit of society?

I hope these questions are answered and resolved by your generation. For a time, it looked as if it would happen when my generation was young. But we burned our bras only to grow up to pay for "boob" jobs so that our daughters can fill theirs.

So, it's now up to you. It's time for you to shed the veils, the binding and the scalpels. It's your turn to burn your bras, spread your wings and keep asking why.

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