Breast Implants

[pam]

Then call me vain and have Carly Simon sing to me about it. I color mine to hide the gray hair and I think I look better in the hair color I have it colored to.

[Wingnut]

Then call me vain and have Carly Simon sing to me about it. I color mine to hide the gray hair and I think I look better in the hair color I have it colored to.

I answered based on the explicit meaning of the word "vain," not the implicit meaning. It may be vain, but I don't necessarily think that's wrong.

[Moksha]

Isn't the issue with breast implants really about power?

Well, as long as they don't overrun the Sudetenland with further expansion.

[Guest mormonmusic]

Well, as long as they don't overrun the Sudetenland with further expansion.

I hear that breast implants make you want to listen to Wagner. One person with breast implants also expressed an overwhelming desire to take over Poland.

[Uncle_Sam]

I hear that breast implants make you want to listen to Wagner. One person with breast implants also expressed an overwhelming desire to take over Poland.

With this discovery they may even try to get breast implants in every school across America to increase students' ambitions and self-esteem:o

[Obolus]

By that reasoning why spend money to make the exterior of temples beautiful? Or the grounds around them? Why have a gold-leafed angel adorn the top of a temple with an iron lightning rod would suffice?

The comparison isn't fair unless you're comparing a temple at the time of dedication to an unaltered human being. So then the question becomes, "Why would the Salt lake Temple replace its current Moroni, after years at its current size, with one that is three times as large?"

All human beings are beautiful as is. It is the consensus of a media saturated society, promoting certain standards of beauty over others, that dictates otherwise. So when people think they are "ugly" or somehow inadequate they are just buying into what the magazines, supermodels, actresses, photographers, advertisers, photoshop-ers, filmmakers and an army of department store mannequins are asserting. All who agree and participate are a part of the same cult of idol worship.

Christ's assertion is that the body is a temple, that it is the house of the Lord. He cleanses and blesses the body with sacred ritual. With regards to women, he asserts that all have the potential to be queens and priestesses as is. It's the rest of us that refuse to catch his vision of true beauty and instead agree with the world's version instead.

As a result she has never been happy with how they look, etc, and if surgery can "fix" that and make her happy with her body, how is that a bad thing?

Does implant enhancement suggest a divine identity? I suppose there is no other choice but to be "happy" after going through with breast enlargement or any other cosmetic surgery. The cost and recovery process demand a positive result, and entire relationships are founded upon such illusions. But is that happiness equivalent to the happiness that is derived from accessing Jesus' atonement through prayer, fasting and ordinance?

It seems more like supplication to the ego/natural man, which is why I referenced the Tower of Babel. If power and glory are attained by earthly means (I.E., not by his Priesthood and not in his name), then the covenant isn't cut with the Father. It is cut with the establishment, which is just a contemporary version of Baal. The New and Everlasting Covenant is enough to endow us with all the power and glory we will ever need. If it's not enough, then it is not understood (or remembered) for what it is.

John 4 seems appropriate:

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

Until a woman performs such a drastic atonement upon her body with the world's doctrine of self-image, there is still time for her to attain the healing she needs from the Lord through magnifying that relationship, and through participating in the three-fold mission of the church. There is also time for those that love her to make her feel like she belongs and is loved and desired without ever needing to alter her body. If we love the Lord, we will feed his lambs.

[john doe]

On another hand, I don't think God will judge too harshly someone who made an adjustment to their body form if it were to make them feel better about their outward appearance. Now, if the person made that adjustment to cause someone other than their spouse lust after them, I can see how that would be seen as a bad thing. I see the purpose of plastic surgery as an attempt to make ourselves more attractive to ourselves and our spouses.

Feeling good about yourself, self-love, is a good thing if not carried to an extreme. Christ said 'love your neighbor as yourself'. If you don't love who and what you are, then how can you love your neighbor? If making an adjustment to your outward appearance makes you truly feel better about yourself, why not do it?

Those who exercise are essentially doing the same things, aren't we? We exercise or diet in order to accomplish the goal of looking better, and it makes us feel better about ourselves when we do it too. There are other benefits as well, but I can tell you the main reason I work out is to try to offset the toll that years of eating cheeseburgers and extra-large fries has taken on the shape of my body. I want to look better, and I know that if I look better, then my self-image will go up.

[Obolus]

John Doe, I also don't feel that God will judge too harshly those who make such decisions. The world is a tough place, and the pressure to be beautiful is immense. But I question the veracity of these procedures "truly" making anyone feel better about themselves when they don't involve holy covenant & atonement. On the contrary, it seems they set up the participant to be a living justification of the practice.

Exercise, diet and grooming, to me, fall under the bracket of maintenance. This is not the same thing as the topic. Staying fit is good stewardship. I don't see how cosmetic surgery, outside of reconstructive purposes, falls under that stewardship.

[Snow]

So far I've stayed out of this discussion to see what others think as I am acutely sensitive to criticism from others and I didn't want to let others into my personal life; but now I feel I must speak up.

I not only thought that breast implants are fine, I felt strongly enough about it that I had them myself - three of them. The first and the second weren't so bad but the third really looks about of place...

... now I'm having 2nd (or 3rd as it were) thoughts.

[Dravin]

So far I've stayed out of this discussion to see what others think as I am acutely sensitive to criticism from others and I didn't want to let others into my personal life; but now I feel I must speak up.

I not only thought that breast implants are fine, I felt strongly enough about it that I had them myself - three of them. The first and the second weren't so bad but the third really looks about of place...

... now I'm having 2nd (or 3rd as it were) thoughts.

Snow, was that you playing the cat woman in the beginning of Star Trek 5? Can I get your autograph? And my condolences for being featured in such a horrible movie.

[Moksha]

Personally, I think of religion as something beyond the micromanagement of the physical. It seems better when we are attuned to all the souls that partake of the emblems of Jesus Christ.

[pam]

I wanted to find a picture of what 3 breasts would look like and post it. This is the only one I could find that was appropriate for the site.

[Dravin]

I wanted to find a picture of what 3 breasts would look like and post it. This is the only one I could find that was appropriate for the site.

Is anyone else curious what would happen if you replaced Snow's suntan lotion with lemon basil butter and let him spend all day at the beach?

[Snow]

I've shared a deeply personal part of my life and now find that I am being publicly pilloried.

Pity

[pam]

I've shared a deeply personal part of my life and now find that I am being publicly pilloried.

Pity

I don't know about pilloried but making fun of? Yes.

[Dravin]

I've shared a deeply personal part of my life and now find that I am being publicly pilloried.

Pity

The pouty prolifically poultry peced person perceived the public parody of prized privileged information a profound pity.

[Snow]

The pouty prolifically poultry peced person perceived the public parody of prized privileged information a profound pity.

Did you pass hours producing that pity pronouncement and save it all this time waiting for an opportunity to use it?

[Dravin]

Did you pass hours producing that pity pronouncement and save it all this time waiting for an opportunity to use it?

Naw I created it on the spot, it took about 5 minutes and a thesaurus.

And no, sadly enough, I don't have anything better to do with my time.

P.S. Profound pardons for my preposterously picked phrase parodying your poignant protest of the pointless pestering.

Edited July 5, 2010 by Dravin

[Snow]

I for one am profoundly perplexed that you haven't used the words pulchritude and perspicacity.

[Dravin]

I for one am profoundly perplexed that you haven't used the words pulchritude and perspicacity.

Perhaps the paucity of proclamations pertaining to persons of perspicacity or a pulchritudinous presence primarily proceeds from a poverty in productive palavering.

[Snow]

Okay. I had to break out the dictionary on that last one. palavering: idle chatter.

[pam]

Yayyyyy for Dravin. He stumped Snow on a word.

[Guest]

Implants? Been there, done that.

Low self-esteem? Not me.

Tower of Babel? No. Don't think so.

Feeling of power... can't remember all the other words that went with this one. Nope.

Vanity? Yep. Comfort? Yep yep yep.

Why did I get it done? Because I had the money and my boobs are the only part of my body that irritates me. My husband said he really doesn't care one way or the other. So, instead of buying a new car, I bought new boobs. So... it is plain and simple vanity.

Now, to explain why I got it done - if I wear a size A cup bra, there's air pockets at the tips of it - because I'm SMALLER than a size A if you can believe that. When I wear a bathing suit, I look just like a boy. My husband who has a muscular chest has bigger boobs than me.

So, I can only wear certain types of tops - I can't wear the tailored type - you know the ones that curve in at the waist because the chest part hangs. Before I started wearing garments, it was not too bad because I wear padded bra. But, if you're a woman who has worn garments, you will notice that the garment tops are shaped with breasts - so the rest of the garment fit snug and the breast part is drooping. Wearing bra over it makes the thing wrinkle underneath the bra so that it is super itchy and uncomfortable. So, ever since I wore garments, I have ditched the bra. But then, when I wear a t-shirt, the garment will wrinkle and show a crease on the t-shirt. So, I have to wear a t-shirt one size too large for me so it all hangs. Or, I wear the bra underneath the garments.

Anyway, I breastfed my 2 kids and when I was breastfeeding I actually got to wear a regular size B and it filled out properly! I loved it! Most breastfeeding clothes are contoured tops and they were all comfortable. But, after my last child weaned, my breasts shrunk back to A minus and started to hang like a banana. Grrr!

So, I was thinking, you know, I have 2 pierced ears so I can hang earings. I see no difference with getting a B cup so I can wear contoured shirts. I actually went with a small C upon consultation with the doctor just so it will match with my big butt.

Amazingly, there are a few women in my ward who got it done as well. All because of this problem of the A minus cup. Now we look "normal".

Anyway, I work out for my health, not so that I can look like a model or whatever. Working out also releases endorphins or whatever they're called that fights off depression. But getting boobs - yeah, that's not for my health.

So, my cousin is a nurse and she volunteers 2 weeks or so out of a year to work in 3rd world countries with a group of doctors to fix disfigured faces of children. Mostly those who have a cleft on their mouth - not sure what you call it - it's when your mouth (usually the top lip) doesn't form well. They usually do not affect proper eating or breathing. But, they go around fixing all these things for free. So, I asked her, why spend all that money on a cosmetic procedure? I mean, you can use that money for more important things - like my other cousin who is also a nurse but volunteers her 2 weeks out of a year to fix cataracts. Fixing cataracts allow people who are almost blind with them to see again! But, after years and years of my cousin volunteering for the cosmetic surgery, I came to understand that what she is doing is also important. Because, most of the people in 3rd world countries with facial disfigurement will not get jobs. They become outcasts with psychological issues.

So, I have a different view on "cosmetic surgery" in relation to the "body as a temple".

All of my family, though, they're in the camp of - that's what God gave you. Be grateful and be happy with what you have. And I understand that too.

[Dravin]

Yayyyyy for Dravin. He stumped Snow on a word.

This still leaves it Snow 2, Dravin 1 though.

[pam]