The Plastic Generation (Persuasive Speech on Child Cosmetic Surgery)
The Plastic Generation
Famous actress and model Patricia Heaton once said “Plastic surgery is like the big elephant in the Hollywood living room,” (Brainy Quotes). For celebrities, a plastic surgery operation is just another trip to the doctor’s office. After all, in this day and age, image is everything. We see this in high profile professions, and in large cities across the country. However, recently in Beverly Hills, California, girls as young as 16 are getting nose-jobs as a “Right of Passage” to fit in. This is a trend that has moved beyond the big city, and with 250,000 teens getting cosmetic surgery a year, it’s becoming all too normal. Bullying, media, and just plain vanity are causing children and teens everywhere to go under the knife to look just right. Cosmetic surgeries come in many forms, and at insane costs, often changing a person beyond physical recognition, even impacting their personality. The purpose of this speech is not to eliminate plastic surgery as a whole, but rather to persuade you to consider an age limit on these operations. In this speech I will outline the problems of young plastic surgery, and discuss some helpful solutions, as well as how these solutions will benefit us all.
The first problem that contributes to adolescent cosmetic surgery is pressure from the media. I’m sure you’ve heard of Heidi Montag - MTV’s “The Hills” star, who took away her natural beauty and turned herself into a living Barbie doll. She turned to plastic surgery to “fix” her forehead, nose, eyebrows, chin, neck, breasts, hips, thighs, lips, and ears, all in one 10-hour operation (Access Hollywood). With this kind of story exposed to the public, who better to know about it than teens, who look to the media for entertainment, gossip, fashion, and especially beauty advice. They idolize celebrities like Heidi, and others who have gotten cosmetic surgery done before, whether it was botox or a liposuction. Like fashion and fame, adolescents can also have
Famous actress and model Patricia Heaton once said “Plastic surgery is like the big elephant in the Hollywood living room,” (Brainy Quotes). For celebrities, a plastic surgery operation is just another trip to the doctor’s office. After all, in this day and age, image is everything. We see this in high profile professions, and in large cities across the country. However, recently in Beverly Hills, California, girls as young as 16 are getting nose-jobs as a “Right of Passage” to fit in. This is a trend that has moved beyond the big city, and with 250,000 teens getting cosmetic surgery a year, it’s becoming all too normal. Bullying, media, and just plain vanity are causing children and teens everywhere to go under the knife to look just right. Cosmetic surgeries come in many forms, and at insane costs, often changing a person beyond physical recognition, even impacting their personality. The purpose of this speech is not to eliminate plastic surgery as a whole, but rather to persuade you to consider an age limit on these operations. In this speech I will outline the problems of young plastic surgery, and discuss some helpful solutions, as well as how these solutions will benefit us all.
The first problem that contributes to adolescent cosmetic surgery is pressure from the media. I’m sure you’ve heard of Heidi Montag - MTV’s “The Hills” star, who took away her natural beauty and turned herself into a living Barbie doll. She turned to plastic surgery to “fix” her forehead, nose, eyebrows, chin, neck, breasts, hips, thighs, lips, and ears, all in one 10-hour operation (Access Hollywood). With this kind of story exposed to the public, who better to know about it than teens, who look to the media for entertainment, gossip, fashion, and especially beauty advice. They idolize celebrities like Heidi, and others who have gotten cosmetic surgery done before, whether it was botox or a liposuction. Like fashion and fame, adolescents can also have