This documentary made me cry and now I'm angry as hell

[beelikej]

Most of you probably won't be able to watch or understand this documentary, but it made me cry out of frustration and I really need to share. I urge you to watch it if you can. The second half is filmed in the USA, so it's in English with Dutch subtitles.

"Beperkt Houdbaar" ('Limited Shelflife' or 'Over The Hill' (official English title)

Documentary maker Sunny Bergman is 34 and scared of losing her beauty, while at the same time she's angry about how women are judged on their looks all the time. She talks to editors of fashion-magazines, psychologists, plastic surgeons and 'patients'. Not only about botox, big(ger) boobs and tummytugs, but also about laser labiareduction. Yeah, you've read that right: as soon as you look more like a woman than a girl: get ready to be cut.
Sunny even gets into that lovely gynaecologists chair herself and films the surgeon between her legs during the consult. He tells her everything about her body is wrong and she is definitely a 'candidate' for surgery. FYI: Sunny is a very healthy woman and 'normal' looking mom of two kids.
What made me cry was the interview with a fifteen year old girl (15. years. old) and her mom who -based on (photoshopped!!!) pictures in Playboy magazine- were convinced there was something wrong with the girl's vagina and she needed to be operated on. Her mom was surprised that her medical insurance didn't want to pay for this 'neccessary' operation on the 'disformity' of her child.

It made me cry and curse at the same time. What the fuck?

Comments

[thejazzter.livejournal.com]

This is the most sick thing I ever heard. It really is.

He tells her everything about her body is wrong [...] How can that be? What kind of sick person would recommend a surgery like that anyway? And what kind of university offers training for stuff like THAT?

And that girl... She's 15! There's nothing to operate on! She still is a girl and I highly doubt she's given birth to a child. There really is no disformity, I doubt it.

SICK..

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

What kind of sick person... The kind of guy that makes 350.000 (three hundred fifty thousand) dollars a month performing these unneccessary operations. And apparently he taught himself the 'perfect' procedure. Scary thought.

From what I could tell there was nothing wrong with the girl, physically.

[thejazzter.livejournal.com]

He taught himself? Niiiice. So, there actually is a chance of dying, because he taught himself? Can't one go and sue him because of shit like that?

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

He is a doctor, he probably gets away with it. Scarier thought; he's spreading his knowledge all over the world, recruiting more doctors to perform the procedure. Grrr. If only it wasn't so easy to prey on the insecurity of those women.

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

It's sick! It really is! I'm really concerned about bringing up a girl in a society that is so focused upon looks. I know I have my problem with self esteem and lots of is is about looks, and I want to work really hard on changing that in mylef (not how I look but how I feel about myself) so I don't give that to Amaya. It takes a lot to to love yourself in a society that feeds on peoples urge to "fix themselves".

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

It's scary to think how much the general opinion about how women need to present themselves have changed. You'd think the women's liberation movement (feminists) would've had a more positive effect, but apparently it all got turned around in the past couple of years, with this whole obsession about beauty. :-(
My motto: if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

And one more thing... I've tried botox and I don't recommend it! I didn't take it to reduce wrinkles, I did it as a profylactic migraine medication, but a side effect is the anti-wrinkle effect :-) (Since 4 out of the 20 shots were to be injected in the forehead). I hated it! I couldn't raise my eyebrows etc, and I ansolutely hated not having all the face exprtessions! I'd rather have lots of wrinkles than a "dead" face!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

I really don't get this whole obsession with wrinkles. It's called living and experience and I wouldn't mind if that's what is showing in my face. I'm told I do look younger than my age, but that's basically because I never smoked, I stay out of the sun and luck (if you want to call it that;) Women with no expression on their faces scare me and I usually don't care for their opinion, because I'm shallow like that.

[tanisafan.livejournal.com]

'Doctors' like that need to be shot on sight.

Holy crap, this is depressing as hell.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Indeed, the nerve to call yourself a doctor while you're trying to convince healthy people there is something wrong with them, is appalling.

This documentary really brought me down. I'm glad I got some well needed comments on this.

[sillie]

Urgh... that's just... Yeah.

*blinks*

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

I knew I would get angry watching this documentary, but I didn't expect to cry. It was really aweful to hear this girl talk: that doctor really had convinced her she was some kind of freak, because she didn't look like a manipulated model.

Did you happen to see it on tv (a couple of weeks ago)? I tried to find it, because it was mentioned on De Wereld Draait Door last Friday. I was glad I was able to see it online (Uitzending gemist) because it is a really powerful message. Unfortunately those women who need to see it, probably won't watch it. :'-(

[sillie]

No, I didn't see it. It's sad that the people who need to see it won't. :/

[lizphairrulz.livejournal.com]

-stares- I hate people.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

I despise them and feel sorry for them at the same time. Idiots, the whole bunch.

[lizphairrulz.livejournal.com]

Agreed.