Last Wednesday night when I was flying from Launceston to Melbourne, to the plane’s left was a perfect winter sunset. Right then, fittingly and sublimely, my headphones were exuding the erotically exotic strains of the Bolero by Maurice Ravel. Which turned my thoughts to Bo Derek, who was exquisitely perfect when at age 23 she starred in the 1979 film 10. I wondered what she looked like now (at age 51), and I hoped she hadn’t succumbed to cosmetic surgery. If I could understand why Dolly Parton would have cosmetic surgery at her age (now 62) – which I can’t – it’s totally beyond me why Julia Roberts would at hers (now 40). My darling daughters assure me Angelina Jolie hasn’t been scalpel-enhanced. They’re either right or wrong. As a lad I thought the young Brigitte Bardot was beautiful and sexy. Now aged 73 and wrinkled, she remains surgically unaltered. Good for her. But I was disgusted, revolted even, that Terri Munro, winner of Big Brother Australia 2008, intends investing some of her A$250,000 winnings on a facelift. She’d get a better return on her shares in the current bear market. If Helen Mirren (pictured) doesn’t need the scalpel at age 63, why would Ms Munro at age 52? Don’t answer that – it’s a rhetorical question.
4 weeks ago
3 comments:
I think you're being unfair, Farmdoc. The reason Terri Munro belives she needs plastic surgery is because people publish and admire photos of women such as Helen Mirren who are freaks really. Most of us don't look like Ms Mirren, and seeing photos of her in magazines makes us feel bad about ourselves and therefore leads the less secure among us to submit to plastic surgery. It's a shame Ms Munro will waste her prize money in this way, but I am sympathetic towards her, not critical.
I understand your point, Writerbee, but what I was bemoaning was Ms Munro's insecurity - she has won a major competition looking the way she does, so why can't see just accept the way she looks, and rejoice - and that in some way society has forced upon her the need to consider a facelift. Age catches up with everyone's looks - vide Brigitte Bardot. Older people should celebrate their faces and bodies as badges of honour.
I also had a problem with your post, Farmdoc. Of course we should all wear our laugh lines like trophies, and those of us existing in the real world can.
But under the harsh scrutiny of the media, and the public who write things such as, "...Bo Derek, who was exquisitely perfect when at age 23..." surely you can understand female stars wanting to look like they did when they were young and sought after. Maybe not agree with, but understand.
I'm lucky that I was brought up valuing people for more than just their outer shells, but like writerbee, I am also sympathetic towards Ms Munro, who may feel some of the beauty burden of another Ms Munro, who died before the judgmental media gaze forced her under the knife.
Perhaps as a man you can't understand female insecurities because you don't have to. You're lucky that you can turn on the TV and see the aging faces of Kerry O'Brien and Peter Cundall, while we are greeted with the smooth faces of manicured female presenters.
On a more personal note, I felt your post should have addressed your sweetheart, Vivienne, whose beauty is surely a source of inspiration to you, as it is to her 4 daughters who strive to be and look as amazing as she does when we are in our 60s.
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