Good to see the comments from Dr. Dayan. He did my mini face lift in November which included fat transfer in my lips. I was very vocal about not wanting duck lips and he assured me that he would provide a natural look, which he did. He did a great job!
Great post. A gentle correction to your closing metaphor, though: I believe it is the overinjectors, not the observers, who are the emperors with no clothes, while we observers are too timid to call out the truth of what we see... Your post (your whole wonderful newsletter actually) is a great start to addressing this. Also, I love the term “perception drift.” It can apply to many aspects of life!
Jan 18, 2022·edited Jan 19, 2022Liked by Valerie Monroe
Dear Val.
This subject is an ongoing source of confusion, pain, and inspiration for me. As an illustrator, I have long been fascinated by the lines in women's faces (so much fun to draw). As a storyteller, I love hearing the narratives behind those lines (my mom and grandmother had some doozies to tell). Each and every line, scar, drooping eyelid, and age spot has a tale to tell and a potential lesson to pass on to others. So why do we run from those lessons instead of collecting them like treasure?
Distaste for aging and its signs has become ubiquitous in our culture. No one wants to feel their body is becoming less attractive and frail - that others no longer see them as productive, desirable or hirable. It has been an ongoing source of indignation that having lost my job to COVID I was unable to find work for more than two years due to my age, despite being well qualified for the more than 800 jobs I applied for.
What I found startling, however, was how ashamed of and angry I was at my body for showing signs of aging. As women we are so conditioned to accept blame, to apologize for not looking and/or behaving as our culture tells us we should. But we never question the people and institutions that pass judgment on us, do we?
My point here is that I "get" why women will do almost anything - dye, inject, cut, starve, implant silicon, transfer fat from one part of their body to another, chemically peel, and paralyze the muscles in their faces with a disease causing bacteria - to look younger. But I really really would like to find a way to turn our attention away from those practices (and the people who make fortunes by promoting them) and look instead at how we might collect, share, and celebrate the beauty of aging.
For a long time I've wanted to create a project called, "All of These Lines" (based on the Brandi Carlike song, The Story: https://youtu.be/bXm5wnykViI) in which signs of a life well-lived are chronicled both as illustrations and as written stories. I even went so far as to add the project to my Braided Lives site but haven't worked on it since COVID waylaid my life. What do you think?
Great article. I wondered why women who do this don’t see it themselves. And for a famous actress, the agent or other advisor should have stepped in before she started filming!
Wow. Is there hope for Kristen and others like her (especially the unknown and unrich ones)? While you can print a correction and an apology about a spelling mistake with a side of lemonade, is there any recourse for cosmetic mistakes?
Thank you for this excellent reporting, Val. Wow. Yet more pharma greed.
Good to see the comments from Dr. Dayan. He did my mini face lift in November which included fat transfer in my lips. I was very vocal about not wanting duck lips and he assured me that he would provide a natural look, which he did. He did a great job!
Great post. A gentle correction to your closing metaphor, though: I believe it is the overinjectors, not the observers, who are the emperors with no clothes, while we observers are too timid to call out the truth of what we see... Your post (your whole wonderful newsletter actually) is a great start to addressing this. Also, I love the term “perception drift.” It can apply to many aspects of life!
Dear Val.
This subject is an ongoing source of confusion, pain, and inspiration for me. As an illustrator, I have long been fascinated by the lines in women's faces (so much fun to draw). As a storyteller, I love hearing the narratives behind those lines (my mom and grandmother had some doozies to tell). Each and every line, scar, drooping eyelid, and age spot has a tale to tell and a potential lesson to pass on to others. So why do we run from those lessons instead of collecting them like treasure?
Distaste for aging and its signs has become ubiquitous in our culture. No one wants to feel their body is becoming less attractive and frail - that others no longer see them as productive, desirable or hirable. It has been an ongoing source of indignation that having lost my job to COVID I was unable to find work for more than two years due to my age, despite being well qualified for the more than 800 jobs I applied for.
What I found startling, however, was how ashamed of and angry I was at my body for showing signs of aging. As women we are so conditioned to accept blame, to apologize for not looking and/or behaving as our culture tells us we should. But we never question the people and institutions that pass judgment on us, do we?
My point here is that I "get" why women will do almost anything - dye, inject, cut, starve, implant silicon, transfer fat from one part of their body to another, chemically peel, and paralyze the muscles in their faces with a disease causing bacteria - to look younger. But I really really would like to find a way to turn our attention away from those practices (and the people who make fortunes by promoting them) and look instead at how we might collect, share, and celebrate the beauty of aging.
For a long time I've wanted to create a project called, "All of These Lines" (based on the Brandi Carlike song, The Story: https://youtu.be/bXm5wnykViI) in which signs of a life well-lived are chronicled both as illustrations and as written stories. I even went so far as to add the project to my Braided Lives site but haven't worked on it since COVID waylaid my life. What do you think?
Great article. I wondered why women who do this don’t see it themselves. And for a famous actress, the agent or other advisor should have stepped in before she started filming!
Wow. Is there hope for Kristen and others like her (especially the unknown and unrich ones)? While you can print a correction and an apology about a spelling mistake with a side of lemonade, is there any recourse for cosmetic mistakes?