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Breasts and Self-Image: Adolescence (cont.)

© Mary D. Brown

I know that at the end of the last article I promised you the story of how breasts continue to shape a woman's sense of self through adulthood. However, in the meantime I've come across two articles on the Web that illustrate so well the effect of body image on adolescents that they demand to be discussed here as follow-up to last month's article.

"Quest for the Perfect Body Starts Very Young"
http://www.msnbc.com/news/382325.asp

NBC reporter Hoda Kotbe reports on two teenage girls who have had plastic surgery to help achieve the body they desire. "Girls as young as 14 are getting bigger breasts and liposuction. Last year, 25,000 girls had their faces and bodies sculpted, nearly twice that of seven years ago," Kotbe reports.

One of the girls this report focuses on is Sommer, an 18-year-old girl from Texas who has known since she was 15 that she wanted bigger breasts. Her reason: "'Physically, I'll look better and I think that'll make me feel better about myself,' she said." Sommer explained that she was tired of being teased about her small breasts and being compared with her more shapely younger sisters.

Although at age 18 Sommer did not need her parents' permission to have breast-enlargement surgery, she wanted their approval. She also needed their financial help to supplement her savings from part-time jobs to pay the $6,500 cost of the procedure.

The second teenager this report discusses is a 15-year-old girl who had liposuction to eliminate the extra weight around her middle that diet and exercise had failed to take care of.

Both girls reported that they felt more self-confident and more satisfied with themselves after their surgery. The parents of both girls allowed their daughters to have cosmetic surgery because they wanted the girls to be happy. Kotbe interviewed the surgeons who operated on the girls as well as other doctors who believe that these types of cosmetic procedures should not be performed on girls this young.

"Their Bodies, Ourselves: Mothers and Daughters Looking Good"
http://familyeducation.com/article/0,112...

This article relates the story of Laura, whose seven-year-old daughter came home from school talking about the size of Britney Spears's breasts. "...girls of all ages continue to be bombarded with a disturbing message, namely: How you look matters more than who you are," the author, Katy Abel, declares.

Laura's daughter had probably picked up these ideas about body image from other girls at school. But, as Abel explains, many young girls receive their first clues about desirable body image from unconscious messages that they hear at home, particularly from their mothers. The article offers these suggestions to help parents of young daughters avoid sending negative messages about body image:

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