that was my first thought, they all look like drag queens now - crazy!

Thank you so much for addressing the posts that I read from your last comments about The Swan. I was appalled to see that so many women were siding with this show and acting like it was okay to put women down based on their looks as "average," and that at the same time they wanted to subject themselves to being contestants on the show. These women think that this show is just about a makeover, but its changing more than just one's outside appearances. I don't think that they realize the negativity that this show really is pushing on the American public.

chicha, you _have_ no competition. you are in a class all your own. there should be a show called 'the chicha,' where women have to go to grad school and start their own blogs, vying in vain to be as dreamy as you.

as for comparing the swan's contestants to drag queens, that seems to me like an insult to drag queens. drag is a way of going _against_ what nature and culture have prescribed your body should look like. these women are only reinforcing the cultural standard to the utmost degree. to try to treat their self-loathing and fear-driven conformity as some sort of 'you go, gir'l empowerment (as the long commenter does) is just an example of stockholm syndrome: identifying with your own oppressor.

chicha = petite shalom harlow?

I've caught bits and pieces of this. One thing that I found quite offensive is they have the surgeon and the "makeover coach" or whatever the hell she is on there praising the women:
"Oh she has just done such a good job in her transformation"
"She has just overcome so many obstacles"
etc.
I mean, WTF? They didn't come up with a cure for cancer, or kick a heroin addiction and graduate cum laude from Yale while raising two young children alone on welfare. Get serious.
Now I understand there are some psychological issues and so forth some of them probably have to deal with, and feeling better about their appearance probably plays into that. They probably do have to grow as people - but to praise them like getting this makeover is some huge accomplishment on their part is just . . . weird. In essence, the message is they are more valued as a person - nay, a better, stronger, and more moral person - just because they look different now.
Sure, given the chance for a freebie I might go for losing my belly and chin implants, to be honest. But I don't think doing so would make me a "better" person.
Looks have little to do with who someone is. I mean, at 36 I realise this - but the message younger people are getting is different. And I hate the idea that there is some "ideal" people should aspire to, because it negates the beauty found in our differences. From the picture above, I don't really find the "after" version that attractive. Her chin and nose are too weird and pointy. Sure, I do find women more attractive with some makeup, jewelry, nice hair and good brows, and a manicure. However, that is all surface stuff and has little to do with their real beauty. It's more the idea that they are confident enough to make an effort than falling into some mythical "range" of beauty.
I love and have loved ALL kinds of women. Short, tall, black, white, Asian, Arabic, Hispanic, Jewish, geeky, glam, old, young, middle-aged, fat and busty, slender and petite, you name it. It's what I love about women - there is no defined set of attributes that makes a certain female attractive. It's about how she embraces her strengths AND her flaws, the essence are derived from within. Is she fearless? Smart? Shameless? Confident? Happy? Funny? Adventurous? Put those together and you have dead sexy in my book. OK, I'll admit a fetish for chubby girls with big boobs . . . but there really is beauty everywhere if you know how to look for it. I'm disturbed that "beauty" is only defined in this lowest common denominator way, because in the process we are losing so much of what makes women beautiful.
A lot of women will never be able to afford this type of reconstructive surgery, and even if they can - it's not going to really change who they are.

You guys are way too nice to me. Thank you.

Another problem with the show is the way they trivialize the medical procedures. I had lasik 5 years ago and have had nightmare vision problems ever since. Not a day goes by that I don't regret my decision.

To get an idea of what it looks like to see the world through f**ked up post lasik eyes, check out the images at -

http://www.surgicaleyes.org/ImageCenter.htm

Imagine the feeling of paying 5 thousand dollars and this is the result. If anyone reading this is contemplating lasik or knows anyone who is, please have them check this website out first. I wish I had.

I think I'm geting closer and closer to eliminating the television's glowing box from my life. As it is, I do not pay for cable, and happen to have regularly clear broadcasts from the majors and some pbs.
Yawn. Yawn. For the most part.

The Swan just made me feel icky, (in need of a shower), after lingering for a few horrified minutes, just to see what it was about. Sad, "culturally" sanctioned, self-mutilation. Ewww.

I have yet to see one of these makeover shows where the breasts aren't enlarged. What's up with that? Is that how women are defined? By the size of their breasts? And the one "Swan" episode I did watch, the one woman ordered up the biggest "D" cup possible. The other woman was ready to give up on her marriage but was dying to pursue a career in belly dancing. Priorities, ladies, priorities. Isn't it what's on the inside that counts?

edwin:
Thanks for the lasik info! I've never had surgery, but I have thought about lasik. One clinic here in Dallas advertises on the radio with glowing celebrity endorsements, offers of payment plans, coupon specials, etc. It's pitched almost more like a new car than a medical procedure, and the doctor claims he has "performed" over 10000 of the procedures. This approach always left me hesitant - not to mention that the long-term effects don't seem to be that well documented. I'll definitely stick with my contacts for now.

I gave up watching TV several years ago (one of the best decisions I've ever made), but I happened to run across a few news articles on this show and then found this blog entry via Google.

I'm a physically unattractive but extremely successful male in his mid-30s. I've gone through my own fair share of plastic surgery (primarily scar revisions) and large amounts of cosmetic dental work, and am generally quite supportive of anyone who wants to improve their appearance by whatever means... but these women (and the producers of this TV show) have serious problems. If the before photos are supposed to be "ugly", these people simply have *no* idea what ugly honestly is.

What gets me the most is, why are these women happily volunteering to make themselves look worse than they did before? They don't look so much like drag queens as cheap and rather trashy whores. I suppose they now have promising careers as Playboy-knockoff-centerfolds, but I can't say that would be all that great a contribution to society.

It's honestly OK for people to be ugly or even "average", and I wish more people would be accepting of this. Shows such as "The Swan" promote the idea there's a problem with looking like an average human being instead of a airbrushed photo of a model... which I'm sure is the whole point, it's a huge advertising boost for the less ethical cosmetic surgeons of the world--and it sucks in foolish people who think their lives would suddenly get 1000% better if they looked like [insert famous celebrity here]. I really want to cry for these poor lost souls.

Physical beauty does not "come from the inside", it's mainly what's on the surface that counts. The *real* question is, is being physically attractive that important? So important that parents tell their young kids with severe physical deformities such awful lies as "it's what's on the inside that counts"?

I've learned to live with who I am and make the most of myself. It's taken a long time and a lot of work, but the end result has been well worth it. I'm quite certain there are more things to worry about than having an attractive face, large penis or a 42EEE cup... physical attractiveness is ultimately one of the least important things in life.

like you, i stopped watching and writing about The Swan soon after its premier. i just couldn't take it. the message boards are even more disturbing. i may, however, have to check out the new content on the show's site.

Nathalie, I left you a phone message but I FUCKING MADE IT ONSTAGE AT A MORRISSEY CONCERT and whispered into his ear.

Now it's time for me to be in a famous band. Call or email me about that most amazing gift? It would, truly, be one of the best things that anyone has done for either one of us. I do not exaggerate. I'm sending you some buttons today, along with all my love. Bootleg CD's and videos to follow after Coachella this weekend. For how long will your current address remain valid?

Love
Laura

I had a similar thought when my friend showed me the Swan website, only instead of "drag queen" I said "She looks like she's from Vegas now."
(And consider, I grew up in Vegas.)

Deplorable, those bios on the women, reading like a fairy tale published before 1966.

I would like to see how these women look like without make-up now, to have a true comparison to the before picture. Because, really, will they always wear pancake foundation and charcoal eyeshadow and lipliner and penciled eyebrows? Yeesh - I hope not (and I'll bet their boyfriends hope not, too).

Unrelated note but it was previously mentioned - I had Wavefront Lasik and I'm glad I did it. Including al the times I went "Ow. Ow. OW!"
www.daymented.com/lasik.htm

P.S. Congratulations Laura!
I'm totally serious!

Tina Brown on Topic A last week did a very intelligent conversation on The Swan, with Jay McInerney, whose wife, Helen Branson, had it (just before he left her) and Paul Theroux. They were all appalled at how little attention is being paid to the spirit, and, perhaps, that the outer material is all that matters in America now. Although McInerney defended the rise of plastic surgery as "inevitable."

As if inevitability meant, eo ipso, moral rightness.

This is deeply shocking to me. How could that woman do that to herself? Or allow it to be done to her? She looks perfectly fine in the before photograph. And she looks utterly grotesque in the after. Really terrible. Is that the prevailing aesthetic of female desirability?

Of course I am writing from the land of "terrible teeth", but you know what? I really appreciate undoctored teeth as a sign of individuality and strength. Just so long as they're clean.

what can i say ? americans are stupid.