Remember Plastic Surgery Reality TV?

In the early 2000's, reality tv started branching out into dating, home improvement, singing, wilderness survival, and makeover shows. The makeover shows specifically appealed to my household consisting of five impressionable females. What seemed like helpful fun like "What Not To Wear" on TLC was overshadowed by something even more problematic--plastic surgery reality shows. I remember watching the FOX produced show, "The Swan" with my family. It first aired in 2004 and only lasted two seasons. The premise of the show was that a group of women who were considered "ugly" were given a team consisting of a dentist, therapist, coach, trainer, and cosmetic surgeons over the course of three months to become "beautiful".

Each week, two women would compete in front of judges for a chance to be a contestant in the Swan Pageant and win several prizes if crowned "The Swan". The season one winner won various prizes including a modeling contract, two vacations, and $50,000 cash. The season two winner won a spokesperson contract for Nutrisystem and a guided tour of Bangkok, Thailand among other things. 7 year old me found this wildly entertaining, and I found myself judging these women by their appearance alongside my sisters. These women came on to a show that promised to make them what society deemed "beautiful" and transformed their bodies sometimes beyond recognition while being praised by their partners, the judges, and of course America. The show was widely criticized with Entertainment Weekly ranking it as number one in their list of 10 Worst Reality-TV Shows Ever.

In 2010, a new plastic surgery competition show aired on E! News called "Bridalplasty". 12 brides and engaged women competed in various challenges to win their dream wedding and plastic surgery procedures. At this point, I was 13 years old and watching this with my sister, completely enamored with watching these women recover from traumatic surgeries such as nose jobs and breast augmentations. This train wreck of a show received criticism and dismal ratings resulting in cancellation after one season.

Flash-forward to 2021, and plastic surgery has become even more normalized. We are in the era of both accepting women for who they are and supporting them if they want to change something about their appearance. I personally don't have an issue with people who get plastic surgery, botox, lasers, or whatever other injectables there are. What is more worrisome for me is the clearly modified bodies we all see on Instagram that are passing as natural and normal.

Social media has replaced these plastic surgery reality shows, but is even more dangerous to young girls because the lines are blurred on whether or not what they see is real and attainable. Instagram can be so toxic when we see influencers, celebrities, even our best friends using a filter and Facetuning every detail of their face and body to meet mainstream beauty standards. I confess that I use a filter on every picture I post online and I can also admit that I have Facetune downloaded on my phone, but never learned how to use it (if I knew how, I would use it on every post). But as millennials had reality TV shows about getting plastic surgery to be beautiful, Gen Z is seeing images everyday of women with surgically enhanced bodies claiming it's from drinking water and exercise.

I still am grappling with trying not to judge women I see on television based on their appearance, even though I think I was trained to because society told me to. What we can try to do now is educate ourselves and others on healthy body image and learning the difference between what is empowering and what is damaging.