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Physical Perfection

  
 
D Terminator XXXIII
13:01 / 29.04.04
I'm striving for physical perfection now. Will meet w/ lovely plastic surgion on Monday, have a scheme that will allow bank to gimme money to have the last bit of flawed dentitures fixed; but is striving for physical perfection, mainly expressed in the inadequate self-image, a hopeless cause?

I have asked friends around on how I look, and surprisingly, they had positive words to say; surprisingly, because my self esteem is factually low, atm.

Então, Physical Perfection VS Imperfect Charm, which one is strongest?
 
 
bitchiekittie
13:24 / 29.04.04
what a gross thread!

fuck the biceps, darling, bone up your intellect instead
 
 
No star here laces
13:59 / 29.04.04
Fuck your intellect, honey, abs are everything.
 
 
Christoph_Chicken
14:13 / 29.04.04
true beauty comes from within?
 
 
LykeX
14:14 / 29.04.04
There is nothing wrong with improving yourself physically, for example through training, eating right, maybe even in extreme cases plastic surgery. But to strive for physical perfection is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
Anyway, eventually you'll grow old. Face lifts can only do so much.
 
 
Jub
14:20 / 29.04.04
I detest physical exercise.
 
 
Ex
14:41 / 29.04.04
I'm more worried that you seem to be getting into debt to do it. But my face and form have served all the purposes I've put them to so far, so I'd feel slightly smug telling you that you don't need it.
On the other hand, attitude and self-esteem are cheaper, and will last longer.
 
 
ibis the being
15:01 / 29.04.04
Am I a naive benefit-of-doubt-giver? Because I'd just assumed this was started in jest, albeit it black jest.

It's actually something I've been thinking about a lot lately, bc I've been rubbernecking (har) at all these extreme swan makeover shows, and just been appalled - horrified, even - at what is being deemed "ugly" and severely "flawed" and "in need of a lot of surgery." Not just 'eh'-looking people, not even 'average'-looking people, but, like, girls that if I saw them on the bus I'd think, "she's pretty." These are the people who are being told "you need a lot of work."

And I worry about what this means for the future. Is model-pretty going to become the standard? I don't give a shit if I measure up to that, but what if I have daughters someday, and in that day only the uber-beautiful are socially acceptable?
 
 
Axolotl
15:09 / 29.04.04
There was an interesting article in the Times (I think) about the grooming arms race that is occuring at the moment; how while once only models and actresses had to be buffed, waxed and groomed to within an inch of their lifes now these (extremely high) standards seem to have trickled down into the populace at large.
Now I'm against that, but on the other hand there is nothing wrong with a little light self improvement, you know, drink water, cut down on the fried foods, some light exercise perhaps. However cutting yourself up in order to feel better about yourself seems a little extreme. But, you know, if it works for you, I'm not going to judge.
 
 
cusm
15:25 / 29.04.04
Beauty is only skin deep. Ugly goes to the bone.

That being said, body modification is cool, but only if you're doing it for yourself rather than someone else's idea of what's hot. And there is no perfect. But I suppose there can always be straighter and firmer.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
09:23 / 30.04.04
Because I'd just assumed this was started in jest, albeit it black jest.

This is factually, horrifically true.

I borrowed a digicam a few days ago, and aside from fooling around with it, just to see if the flawed, accidental and *just right* photo could be captured, I turned the lens towards my face, towards my scars, towards my imperfections. What I see in the mirror is quite the reverse in these captured photos, and my, what a fucking jolt to the system it was. It's like hearing your recorded voice outwith for the first time - one is, ho, impartially biased towards an outside representation of one's physical self.

That said, after discarding four fifths of the captured photos, I also managed to end up with some lovelies, some of which I shall post soon in the Photo thread.

However, I don't think I am the only one to wish for physical improvement - but I am very broken down, used up and visibly different. Like, way different. The talk with a friend yesterday - and I should add that I honestly think friends and family reflects a more balanced view of oneself than mirrors, cameras, can ever do - made me realize that, it's not within me, it's not my attitude. No. It's for the outside world. I want the advantages that a more streamlined appearance can bring with it - because we are always initially judged based on our looks - and it's basically it.

But, I think it's reductive to say: Intelligence Does Matter; just as one can be very, very, very hot, without having a spark of electricity within one's being, I'd be wary to present those two as the only, agreable things - crossovers of every variety exist within the dichotomy.
 
 
ibis the being
12:59 / 30.04.04
But dark son, why are you striving for physical perfection rather than just fixing the physical flaws or scars that you absolutely can't live with? I have to seriously question the idea that there is any intrinsic value to physical perfection.

And also, I thought in the first post you were saying that your friends had positive things to say about your appearance, and that your self-esteem was the real problem. Now you're saying in your lastest post that your friends admit your appearance is problematic, and not your self-esteem.
 
 
No star here laces
04:56 / 01.05.04
Well I think it's fucking great. If ze has looked physically very fucked for as long as ze can remember and is suddenly going to be transformed into a consensus model of physical beauty that's a pretty extreme world-change. Much better than drugs.
 
 
D Terminator XXXIII
12:53 / 03.05.04
why are you striving for physical perfection

Trying to turn this thread into a discussion of one's physical ideals and shortcomings made me broaden up the topic. Perhaps it's too broad and too fixated w/ own navel, as it is now. 'Cos the opening sentence was of an extreme, in order to spark interest + further dialogue. But the complexity with which I try to capture myself physically, is damning and damn hard to grasp.

We are judged daily, based on our appearances. Some see the physical only, others notice the attitude, and others add the physical to the attitude. Or the attitude to the physical. Even though some claim that we are drawn to the physically beautiful, we no longer live necessarily on pure Nietzhe or Darwin, if in fact, we ever have.

What it comes down to, I think, is identity. This is quite novel for me, actually, because even though I've made some really interesting choices in the past, which enabled me to make sense of the world in a concise fashion, I've never been too interested in myself. Having rid myself of my convictions, and having erased my concise understanding of the outside world, which identity am I left with? I am visibly different, but aren't we all? What does my physicality mean to the people I meet? Or to the strangers who fleetingly notice me? And I have to state that being a homosexual, the predominant fixation of the physical and sexual, in dating sites or night clubs, say, only furthers doubts. I have slept with many but what does it prove? I haven't slept with that many in the past year and what does it prove? Is it involunatarily my choice, which it kind of is, and is it more? Is it the physical appearance? And, having chosen to work for a year, I'd have to look better than I do now if I want to get arrested in a, relatively, well paying job. 'Cos the interesting choices I've made in the past, have hardly specialized me for jobs which are more about knowledge than physical appearance.

[why not] just [get] the physical flaws or scars [fixed] that you absolutely can't live with?

But I have. And I can.

But at what cost?

Yes, I went to the doctor today, and I got the recommendation to a plastic surgeon. We shall see how fast something can be done, and afterwards it's about the teeth, baby. I choose to be assimilated now, because the way I live my obscure life is not exactly healthy.

But striving for perfection is surely something that we all go through from time to time? No matter how far off and, ultimately, futile it is?
 
  
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