Anorexistan

So I'm discovering a few things about Argentinian culture. I knew plastic surgery was big here, but I didn't realize it was a size DD. Seriously folks, I think the number of boob jobs I've seen in Buenos Aires trumps the number in L.A. While there's still a stigma attached to having plastic surgery in the States (celebrities who have become practically unrecognizable denying they've ever had anything done), Argentinians seem to have embraced plastic surgery so much, it has about as much stigma as a trip to the dentist. Even the former President Carlos Menem openly admitted to having his hairline and cheeks done! I can't imagine the parallel situation. New York Times headlines read: President Bush Recovers Nicely from Tummy Tuck - Thanks Jesus for Speedy Healing.

So why all the plastic surgery? Many reasons, it seems. Argentinian culture is famous for its obsession with looks. I walked into a pharmacy the other day, needing some eye makeup remover (pharmacies also sort of double as beauty supply stores). I was approached by the saleslady, but I stumbled over the word for eye-makeup remover. "Necesito....um....no conozco la palabra en espanol, es para---" She cut me off, enthusiastically: "Crema Anti-Cellulitis?" Ugh. I mimed the act of removing makeup as best I could, and she actually looked disappointed. Before I walked into the pharmacy, I wasn't thinking about my cellulite, but you can bet I was when I left. It works this way in most countries - planting insecurities in women to ensure consumption of beauty products, obsession with aging, etc...So what's different about Argentina? Maybe not too much, but many of the people I've spoken with here have brought up the problems with anorexia, so I checked it out. Argentina has a higher rate of anorexia than the United States and Europe. Some people attribute the obsession with looks to the economy. After such mental suffering, the people were in need of a pick-me-up--or in this case, a lift-me-up, hehe. I've also heard that appearance is much more important than competency, so it's possible that surgery could increase one's chances of getting a job. But what about before the economic cris? Some say it's to do with Argentina's obsession with appearing European - they are famous for bragging that Buenos Aires is the Paris of Latin America. Although, there's one thing that's not very Parisian of them: they are also really obsessed with going to the gym. Try getting a Frenchman to trade his echarpe for some gym shorts - not an easy task.

The obsession with looks also seems to have an effect on relationships. According to Miranda France, author of Bad Times in Buenos Aires:

"The obsession with looks, many porteños agreed, made relationships problematic in Buenos Aires; the country's divorce rate was the highest in South America. One of the capital's dating agencies announced publicly that it was to close after five years' business had yielded only one marriage (and that was looking rocky). The agency's director appeared on television, exasperated by failure. 'I've organized more than a thousand dates and only one of them came to fruition,' she told the reporter. 'Argentines don't know how to form proper relationships. The men want someone young and beautiful. The women all want money. Nobody's realistic.' (p.87)

Every woman in Buenos Aires, no matter her size, wanted to be thinner. Looks, but more particularly women's looks, were a persistent, urgent topic of conversation. Argentina spent more money on cosmetic surgery than almost any other country in the world and was fast developing the highest incidence of anorexia. Two-thirds of school girls had ambitions to become, not lawyers, doctors or scientists, but models --- and this was somehow not felt to be a national disaster. When a German 'supermodel' visited Buenos Aires to promote lingerie, she was accorded more honours than a head of state, meeting the president twice and travelling around the city in a fleet of limousines, pursued by thousands of fans. Her thoughts on beauty and lingerie commanded front pages for five days. (p.85)

Although men also spend over the odds on clothes and cosmetic surgery, in practice they could do whatever they liked; it was only unforgivable for a woman to age or grow fat. Female television presenters over a certain age --- and there were precious few of them --- wore long bleached hair and the fixed smiles of multiple face-lifts. Magazines imposed an aesthetic regime that was tyrannical. If a celebrity had taken too long to recover from a pregnancy or had allowed her buttocks to 'fall' --- a phenomenon that fascinated and appalled porteños --- she was chastised with a merciless close-up and a cutting editorial advising to get in shape. Prime-time television entertainment included competitions in which men tried to guess a woman's vital statistics by running their hands over contours of her body, or tested their skills at matching a row of women's barely covered buttocks to the correct faces. Real women were used in these contests. They never stopped smiling as the contestants squeezed and prodded them....."

I've had a lot of conversations with guys this week claiming that it's really annoying that most girls are obsessed with their looks, but after my experience the other night, I'm pretty sure they do their fair share to perpetuate the problem. Any social culture which revolves around men chasing women, and therefore, women's sexual attractiveness to men, is going to instill feelings of competition and inadequacy in women. So that's my personal opinion on why the ladies are obsessed with their looks - and not just in Argentina!