Model, mother of two dies after cosmetic surgery

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 Blog / Commentary by IARC

Former Miss Argentina Solange Magnano died suddenly after undergoing cosmetic surgery known as gluteoplasty, which essentially firms up the buttocks.  She suffered a blot clot and died the next day, leaving behind a husband and eight-year old twins.

The pressure for women to conform to a certain image is not isolated just in the United States.  A survey in the UK showed that ten-year old girls wanted to be thin and a stunning 42% of 11-16 year-olds restricted their diets.

This latest tragedy is yet another death connected to cosmetic surgery.  We certainly believe people have the freedom to do what they want with their body, but at what price to themselves and society?

Perhaps some Indian spiritual guidance is needed at a time when our culture continually degrades itself on a daily basis, ignoring character and intelligence and promoting shallowness and appearance.  “Reality TV” is the new standard where the people and their lifestyles on these shows are anything remotely close to reality.  We need a new spiritual awakening which recognizes the inner beauty of one’s soul and not the body carrying it.  Ancient Indian texts are replete with the notion that the soul is eternal and the body holding it is merely temporary.

When we compare our own bodies to celebrities, athletes, and models, we are made to feel inadequate.  The truth is 98% of us are normal and the 2% of people with perfect bodies appearing on runways and movie screens are the ones with extraordinary genes.  Our 20% body fat is normal, their 3% isn’t.  They’re the freaks of nature, not us.

A multi-billion dollar industry exists marketed toward our appearance, with dizzying proportions.  We’re inundated everywhere with images of people who most of us can never look like and we’re made to feel ashamed of our bodies as a result.

The marketing will go on, but the moment we begin to teach girls and young women to love their bodies, we can expect to see less tragic deaths of mothers and wives like Ms. Magnano, who as a friend noted, “A woman who had everything lost her life to have a slightly firmer behind.”