Growing older is a normal fact of life. But how gracefully or disgracefully we do that is of course, up to us!
Nips, tucks and the odd injection are now commonplace, and whether or not we tell anyone about any little helping hands, is again personal choice.
Which is why it’s so refreshing to see such topics being discussed on mainstream television. The latest episode of Sex and the City’s ‘And Just Like That’ sees Carrie meeting with a plastic surgeon – and this is where it becomes so true to life…
Carrie isn’t actually visiting the cosmetic surgeon for herself. Instead, she’s accompanying Anthony, going along for moral support. The surgeon assesses Anthony and proclaims that he’s “hot, with nice Italian skin and good muscle tone”.
She then decides that whilst she’s there, she might as well have a consultation
The surgeon goes ahead, creating a digitalised image of Carrie of how she could look, if only she tweaked this and changed that. The image takes Carrie back 15 years as lines are erased and all signs of ageing digitally swept away.
“Oh, I remember her”, sighs Carrie.
And there we have it – a male doesn’t need any work because he’s allowed to age, a female simply isn’t, and is instead shown a ‘better’ version of her current self as a teaser.
Carrie then discusses her temptation of a full face and neck lift (but as the surgeon explains, “it’s entirely up to her”) with Miranda and Charlotte, who are on opposite sides of the debate
Miranda is against, saying, “I’m going to kill that doctor! You felt great about the way you look and now, thanks to him, you’re questioning that. This is what they do to women, they make it wrong for us to age”.
But Charlotte adds, “A woman should be able to freshen up without other people making them feel bad about it. Botox and a little filler are not the end of the world.”
In real life, the three woman had their own images scrutinised as the new series was released
From allegations of cosmetic surgery to criticism of grey hairs, they haven’t been immune to the all too common ‘damned if you do, damn if you don’t’. This prompted Sarah Jessica Parker to tell US Vogue that this sort of thing simply wouldn’t happen to a man
“She has too many wrinkles, she doesn’t have enough wrinkles. It almost feels as if people don’t want us to be perfectly okay with where we are, as if they almost enjoy us being pained by who we are today, whether we choose to age naturally and not look perfect, or whether you do something if that makes you feel better. I know what I look like. I have no choice. What am I going to do about it? Stop ageing? Disappear?”
To facelift or not to facelift – that’s the question for Carrie. In the end she decides against. But for all of us, if we have the choice, for whatever treatment that may be, it’s ours to make.
