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Celebrating Our Authentic Bodies
by Esther Kane

In this article, I want to cover a topic that Iapostropheve wanted to speak to for a long time- plastic surgery. I must confess that this is an area I gave little attention to in the past as I have been in my apostropheprimeapostrophe for a good number of years being young with good skin and a curvaceous body. However, I have just turned 38 and with the increase of years have also come some things I hate to admit have shocked me to the core. These include:

*Weight gain that appears to take place just by LOOKING at fattening foods (I swear itapostrophes true!)
*Gray hairs- at first manageable- all I had to do was use my trusty eyebrow tweezers and problem solved. Now, however, I risk going bald if I were to continue this practice.
*Breasts that have started to mimic the shape of pancakes and have definitely taken a downward turn (you know what I mean).
*Lines around my eyes and the skin surrounding my eyes staying in one place once I apply make-up for longer than I would like. Itapostrophes like watching a snail slowly migrate back into its shell once the cover-up is blended in.
*And horror of horrors-chin hairs! No, Iapostrophem not kidding...and not the blond wispy things no one notices-these little buggers are thick and black and have the amazing ability to grow roughly half an inch overnight!

Add to this the countless stories I hear from clients and girlfriends about “getting work doneapostrophe on their bodies. These range from groups of women, whom upon the dawn of their 50th birthday, get a face-lift, Botox injections in the face to reduce wrinkles, breast implants, to tummy tucks. I sit there trying to wipe the look of horror off of my face as I do my best to impart an attitude of empowerment and acceptance regardless of what choices women make in their lives.

I was at my local library recently and glanced along the shelves and found a new book out by Joan Rivers, the Queen of plastic surgery, which is a “guidebookapostrophe to getting plastic surgery. It was titled, “Men are Stupid...And They Like Big Boobsapostrophe. She is 75 years old and has had so much plastic surgery that she looks somewhat cartoon-like and anything but natural. She doesnapostrophet even look like a younger version of herself- she looks strange and almost doll-like and scarily unreal. Anyway, the book was co-written with some top cosmetic surgeons and boasts all of the “wonderfulapostrophe advances available to women who want to change the way they look through plastic surgery. I particularly loved the part where sheapostrophes talking about one procedure and under “risksapostrophe she casually writes, “deathapostrophe. Then without missing a beat, sheapostrophes onto describing the next “wonderfulapostrophe procedure!

I donapostrophet know about you, but I think DEATH is a pretty big risk! It reminds me of the author who died a few years ago from liposuction- yikes. I donapostrophet want to come off as being all fanatical and judgmental, because I truly believe that women are in charge of their bodies and itapostrophes not my place to tell someone what to do with her body.

However, I do believe that the current obsession we have with looking younger (one writer calls the times we are living in, “age decelerationapostrophe- i.e., “forty is the new thirtyapostrophe and so on) is a recent and ultimately, dangerous focus. Never before in human history have people been so terrified of getting old. Itapostrophes also true that we have never had such a long lifespan so perhaps this is a contributing factor as well.

My grandparents never considered plastic surgery and my 86-year-old grandmother is completely perplexed with this newfound obsession younger generations have with looking young for as long as they possibly can. I think that there are many factors at play here; most notably, the fear of death.

I know Iapostrophem terrified of dying and getting old. But Iapostrophem working through it. I want to be courageous enough to face getting older head-on without going under the knife or injecting poisonous substances in my body to appear younger. Honestly, Iapostrophem not looking forward to more gray hair, my body shape changing, and those lovely hairs on my chinny-chin-chin, but Iapostrophem going to do my best to apostrophego naturalapostrophe and grow old gracefully. I am more than my body and so are you. Letapostrophes all remember that.

About the author:

Esther Kane, MSW, Registered Clinical Counsellor, is the author the book and audio program, “It’s Not About the Food: A Woman’s Guide To Making Peace with Food and Our Bodiesapostrophe (www.endyoureatingdisorder.com) and “Dump That Chumpapostrophe(www.dumpthatchump.com), and “What Your Mama Can’t or Won’t Teach Youapostrophe(www.guidebooktowomanhood.com). Sign up for her free monthly e-zine, Women’s Community Counsellor, to uplift and inspire women at: http://www.estherkane.com.