Commentary connecting quote to Key Concept

This highlights the materiality of our culture, showing how women are convinced that they need to spend large amounts of time and energy on their physical appearance in order to be recognized and valued.

Here, the concept and practice of plastic surgery is more than just to make oneself beautiful. It is what is followed and a means to happiness. What's significant about this is that this process of "beautification" is deriving from this very sense of satisfaction plastic surgery aims to give, and these advertisements, governments, music groups, are a material form that communicates that desire. The process of beauty has become commodified through capitalistic methods.

This quote is talking about how people were mainly having procedures that help to maintain a youthful look. They want to look younger or what they used to look like, this shows that they might still think of themselves as their younger self. What they look like now might not resemble how they feel so they go through these procedures to look like their perception of themselves.

The procedures that seem to be gaining popularity today are procedures focused on the face, likely as a result of the Zoom Effect of seeing ones face up close when taking part in conferences with others. In a sense the social relations of people cause one to consider surgery, particularly to the face which others see the most. This is also what is most prominent on social media as well, another form of social 'connection'.

The study talks about how the rise in social media, and therefore increase in media (photos, videos, etc.) that a person has out there permanently in the world is what is influencing millennials to get plastic surgery young. These social relations that people make on social media are what influence this decision. Millennials want to seem young and natural to those they interact with, which could be for many reasons (potentially romantic attraction, self-esteem, etc.).

This is something that can be seen in Pretty Modern in things like Carnaval, where being seen as beautiful in environments with a high social reaction is really important to them. Or when they go to the beach, they want that social reaction to showcase them as attractive individuals.

Women put a lot of their identity into the way they they present themselves physically, and this can impact the way that they present themselves emotionally, which can easily be perceived as insecure and lacking in social skills.

The conformity/identical procedures that were being so heavily advertised was indicative of what Koreans idealized: Western beauty. Also considering the mass amount of ads that covered Seoul, promoting the Western beauty standard, the power of Western beauty shapes the way that Koreans see their own identity. The government also supported it heavily, and in the article, it was proposed to open a plastic-surgery clinic in an airport so travelers need to travel to the city. The power of Western standards also reach young children, shaping their own perceptions of beauty with regards to the idealized state.

Pretty Modern's beauty standards are also perpetuated by their state, idealizing the power of Western beauty...

"It's every woman's desire to become prettier, so I think it's a good thing," Kim says." (Hu, 2018). The concept of identity is shown here because it can be seen that in Korea, many women are subjected to certain beauty standards so frequently that severe internalized insecurity about looks becomes a collective identity among Korean women because the quote says that it's "every woman's desire to become prettier" suggesting that they never feel pretty enough.

This demonstrates a reduction in the commodity fetishism of celebrities, though they still have an impact on our perception of beauty. People are more confident with their own bodies and identities instead of chasing the 'ideal image' popularized by celebrities. However, as seen in Pretty Modern, the dramatic increase in cosmetic procedures in lower economic classes indicates that people still believe they need the procedures to be beautiful.

"Perfection, or what society deems perfect, is not attainable for everyone, but it feels even further away for a woman of colour. The image of perfection is a certain physical type: a skinny woman with blond hair etc. Those things are not even half attainable to you, and you sometimes feel you were born imperfect."

Here, Chardine links her ascribed identity as a woman of color to the Euro-centric standard of beauty that feels unattainable to her. The standard of "a skinny woman with blond hair etc." is reflected in Brazil's siliconadas as well, especially as plastic surgery trends towards "whitening", european features. If one doesn't feel like their ascribed identity fits notions of beauty, they may desire and fetishize it.

"Much of the ideal [beauty] is industrialized. It's being created by the beauty industry, by K-pop [Korean pop music], by perhaps even the government, in what they're selling to the rest of the world as to the ideal Korean beauty."

The body is treated as a commodity that has cultural meaning. It is bought and sold by the "beauty industry, by K-pop" suggesting that it is given significance by beauty and music industries which are central to Korea's identity and culture. Further, Korea sells the body to the "rest of the world" indicating that the body is an object given inherent power as it symbolizes parts of Korean culture and identity to the world. This is similar to Pretty Modern in which the ideal female body is used to give Brazil an unique, modern identity in the global context.

This quote highlights the materiality in Seoul's culture, as it shows how industries promote the beauty standards, which convince woman to spend lots of money and time on their physical appearances in order to fit in with the norm. This connects to pretty modern as the same thing is happening there. Many famous people promote plastic surgeries, people openly talk about what is wrong with your body with you. Similarly, the materiality is being promoted by major industries, which promotes capitalism and consumerism as well.

Srishti: This shows the amount of power our cultural beliefs have over women. The fact that they "have" to spend more time and money to look "presentable" in society represents the amount of power that our beliefs as a culture have on individuals; they have to spend more time and money to do things they don't nessesariy want to, but because they "have to".

Further, we can connect this idea to Pretty Modern because of how women spend so much money to get plastic surgery, often when they can't afford it, possibly not just for their self-esteem, but to look "sand-ready" for the beach, to the point where they plan this out in the winter for the following summer.

This quote demonstrates the societal norms that Brazil establishes and continues to maintain in regards to how the bodies of Brazilian women look. The usage of medical beauty work is therefore exacerbated through such norms. This suggests that plastic surgery in Brazil is driven by one's desire to improve themself "functionally" and aesthetically, but the desire itself may be fueled in part to avoid encounters with people who are outspoken in their opinion on other people's bodies.

despite talk of “Snapchat dysmorphia” and wanting to alter appearences to resemble

social media filters, according to the survey.

About 79% of plastic surgeons said, however, that a desire to look better in selfies is a

trend. Lip lifts were up 3% last year.

About 20% of patients refer to celebrities at their appointments, according to the

AAFPRS."

Plastic surgery patients are identified to often be influenced by social media perceivances as well as celebrities which are also similar to this, as they're simply people that society is able to observe and obsess over, with little to no information about their true personalities or identities that they choose not to display to the world.

_{Botox, fillers, and all types of plastic surgery overall are seen as a material good by American society. The pressure to stay looking young and not age stems from societal beliefs and expectations for people, specifically women. People are able to fall into this belief and expectation because of the materialistic culture we live in, especially when the thought of plastic surgery is seen only as the result and not the process or expense.}

Holly Decker has become quite familiar with cosmetic procedures over the past few decades.

The professional makeup artist from Saskatoon has been in the business for around 20 years. Over that time she has worked on countless faces. She said she's seen an increase in cosmetic treatments, especially Botox and dermal fillers. 

"I think more so in the last 10 years, and then very much so – and I'd say a lot more of it – in the last five."

In the past, she said, people who got a treatment like Botox would pretend they weren't.

"What I'm loving now is that people are more open to talking about things that they're doing and sharing information," she said. "I think that education on this is the most important component.""

People used to not talk about it and would deny if they did get any type of cosmetic surgery, it was taboo. But now because the conversation has changed people are more open about getting cosmetic surgery and are more willing to talk about it with other people. This is changing how people interact with each other about cosmetic surgeries.

"There's just a sense that to conform, to be part of that norm, you have to look a certain way, act a certain way," Willoughby says."

The pressure on women in South Korea to conform to the intense beauty standards affects the expression of their identity. Their identity may be dictated by the societal structures that exist because of the plastic surgery industry in South Korea, and thus a group identity is created that is centered around physical attractiveness as a means of placing value on someone.

A similar group identity is created in Pretty Modern, which we can see through the immense amount of women getting plastic surgery in Brazil in order to become "prettier".

This statistic shows how views of personhood in Brazil may differ on an individual based on their gender. Women's choices are demeaned and seen as less than because of their gender, and Brazilian society unfortunately puts that into question. Women's personhood is not valued in Brazilian society, and not conforming to the broader narrative often leads to social stigma that further lessens a woman's worth in Brazil.

_{Popular celebrities, such as Madona as said above, have such a high power over deciding trends and the expectations, specifically surrounding beauty. There is a social structure set in place of the celebrities being on top and the people looking up to the celebrities being below them. This allows for celebrities to have more agency since they have many followers, and can easily decide the trends that other people in a society need to have to gain more agency by following their trends.}

The summer camp that encourages young girls to realize their potential helps to define their personhood beyond physical appearance. The encouragement to redefine the worth of young girls' enables them to become more ambitious and pursue higher education without being bound by the burden of wanting to appear more physically attractive.

This shows how the perception of someones looks, on a physical level, dictates whether a person is confident or not. Indicating the lack amount of power someone really has over their own body and how they feel about themselves, also showing the large amount of power someone else has over your own body.

"Another source of pressure for me, personally, comes from the fact that the media has become obsessed with a particular aesthetic for mixed-race and black women. "

This article tries to explain how social media and other things greatly impact people and how they look at themselves. There is a correlation between the women, as they say, they want to be skinny, get plastic surgery, or have European features because that is considered attractive. Perfection, or what society deems perfect, is not attainable for everyone, but it feels even further away for a woman of color. The image of perfection is a certain physical type: a skinny woman with blond hair etc. Even if someone doesn't have those features, they wish that they did.

This highlights how the identities of young Korean girls are shaped by social standards enforced by the posting of plastic surgery advertisements. This shapes them to have a misconception of what they "should" look like, which affects their own sense of identity because they feel the need to conform to a shared "ideal" identity as presented by the advertisements.

The difference in how gender affects cosmetic procedures shows how identity is a huge part in how people present themselves and how they want to present themselves, leading to cosmetic changes. Because of the prominence of women on social media having very specific features that lead to issues in women, men seem more open in embracing their natural looks, leading to less cosmetic changes in general. This contrasts to Pretty Modern, which explains that both men and women undertake cosmetic surgery to enhance their looks, but also compares showing that despite that both men and women subject themselves to surgery, it most affects women, with women making up the majority in both the article and Pretty Modern.

This shows the growing influence that the industry is having on women's self-esteem. When so many people are changing their physical appearance to look identical to everyone else it indicates a different interpretation of personal identity. They no longer want as much individuality as conformity, which could be indicative of a loss of their sense of self.

Identity refers to how a person's self-perception and the way they are viewed by others. Based on this quote, it is evident that the self-perception of young girls is largely based on their bodies. Since their identity partially stems from their body image, it follows that many young girls are "afraid of being fat." Further, "their roles," which is a part of how they are viewed by others, contributes to their fear of being fat. This connection between body image related stress and self-perception is present in Pretty Modern as well. Women in the book were often uncomfortable once they put on weight leading them to a perception of themselves that hurt their mental health. This in turn led them to plastic surgery.

Srishti: This quote connects to materiality because of the way that people seem to be replacing their previous life endeavors with plastic surgery, during the pandemic. They want somewhere to spend the money on, and if they see their face everyday and decide to make changes, they have the ability to do so.

We can also see this in the book where when plastic surgery became more accessible to the working or "popular" classes, they went out and "fixed issues" they were insecure about, which is cheaper and faster than other non-surgical treatments wealthier people might have access to.

Gender has an impact on who is getting plastic surgery with the majority being women getting work done. The quote also says how hair transplants are most popular with men, which shows a social construct men are more likely to feel. Gender is a large part of one's identity and can affect all other aspects of life.

This is seen in Pretty Modern as most of the book is focused on women getting plastic surgery. While men will get some work done, there is still a majority of women getting plastic surgery. This shows how gender is a large part of identity and how it corresponds to whether you do or don't get plastic surgery.

The data discussed in this article highlights that when women proceed with higher education their agency when it comes to their self-esteem, civic duties, and community connection increases. Through education, women gain power as they are able to exercise their rights to vote and not be diminished by societal beauty norms.

""There's just a sense that to conform, to be part of that norm, you have to look a certain way, act a certain way," Willoughby says."

The government and other sources of beauty standard have impacted south Korea, and has shaped the way women look at themselves. They wanted surgies to be open to everyone, including tourists who want plastic surgery for cheap. These things make it so plastic surgery has evolved into something normal, and is a power that is brought forward by western beauty.

This illustrates how the group's expectations of what ideal beauty looks like shape how the younger generation views themselves and how they should look. The "worshipping" relationship between fans and celebrities creates a dynamic that influences the younger generation's perspective of themselves.

This quote alludes to the power that women feel and that society gives when the looks of women are "improved". Silver, the author of this article, later suggests that beauty is much more important for women than men, which results in women spending more time, money, and efforts on beauty to be seen as "equal" to men.