I really, really should NOT...

... look at the BBC news website when I've got a lot of things to do. It's asking for trouble, frankly, because I invariably find something to rant about; ranting leads to blogging; and blogging leads to more cups of tea and then a frantic rush around as I try to catch up on all the things I should have been doing during the time I've spent at the keyboard...

BUT... I never learn, and this morning found me innocently logging on whilst downing my second pint of tea with the thought 'I'll just see what's been going on in the world before I load the dishwasher again'. BIG MISTAKE - because the following caught my eye

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8015981.stm

For those who can't access this link, it's about a 50 year old, Janet, who has spent over £12,000 on cosmetic surgery so she can look like her 29 year old daughter, Jane. Now, people who are familiar with my thoughts on this sort of thing can just imagine the mounting rage as I read the article and watched the video of this inane pair. It is just so WRONG on so many levels... and is really an extension of my rant about Susan Boyle earlier on this month. My observations can be summed up briefly as:

1. Compare the way Janet look now with the photograph in the clip of her on the blue sofa. Does she really think she looks better now? If she does, she is delusional - I think most people would agree picture of the happy, smiling, GENUINE woman on the sofa is a lot more attractive than the strutting, plastic Barbie of a creature she is now.
2. Who does she think she is fooling? She does NOT look one day under her real age of 50, despite what the people in the street say on camera - and the embarrassed squirming of the latter should indicate to Janet they are trying to be kind to her rather than be honest. She does NOT look like her daughter's sister. What she actually looks like is a 50 year old with an inability to face up to the fact she IS 50. Oh, and who possesses an unfortunate love affair with the peroxide bottle.
3. Why on earth does she feel the need to go partying with her DAUGHTER? Why on earth does her daughter tolerate this? Are the pair of them really so devoid of friends that they have cling together in this rather parasitic manner? Before anybody starts, I'm not suggesting I think people should only have friends from their own age group - I think it's healthy to have friends of all ages from a variety of different backgrounds - nor do I think it's wrong parents should spend time with their grown up children. However, and perhaps this is just me and my old-fashioned attitude, I think the spectacle of a 50 year old going clubbing is inherently undignified and indicates a complete lack of maturity on Janet's part. What is so wrong with facing facts and acknowledging you are going to cut a vaguely ridiculous figure if you continue to do the things you did 20 years earlier? 'Let go, accept you've moved on to another phase in life and take on the new and exciting challenges that come with it, rather than desperately try to cling on to the past' would, I suggest be a far more productive attitude for Janet to adopt.
4. It's notable that when Janet went through a bad patch and 'lost confidence' as she puts it (I suspect through a messy divorce for which she has my understanding and consummate sympathy) she didn't pick herself up by improving herself mentally through, for example, going back to college or learning something new. No, she headed for the plastic surgeon. Speaks volumes about her values, doesn't it?
5. It's also notable that her daughter Jane's reaction was 'It's dangerous' rather than 'Stop copying me and go out and get your own style which suits YOU'. Which speaks volumes about the mental capacity of Jane.

I am not only angry about this article I am saddened by it. To me, it's yet another episode which proves what thoroughly shallow attitudes are now prevalent: this is a 50 year old woman mutilating herself to try to fulfil what we have as a society come to expect from women. These days it's NOT OK to reach 50 with a few extra pounds, a few wrinkles around the eyes and an acknowledgement that gravity is doing its worst on the rest of your body; oh no, we all have to look half-starved, pumped up and (literally) botoxed up to the eyeballs to get any sort of respect.

Or, looking more closely, DO women in fact get this respect following this path? I'm not sure. Janet and Jane acknowledge they get 'stared at' when they go out, which doesn't seem very respectful to me. A discussion of how well a woman has aged usually includes some speculation regarding how much 'work' she's had done on herself; which again, doesn't ring of esteem for that woman somehow. Now, I'm not against any woman trying to make the best of herself; in fact I think it's a mark of respect to those with whom you have to interact to look presentable and as if you've 'made an effort'. But again, it's necessary to do things in moderation - thinking it's OK to spend £12,000 to make yourself look like Barbie goes well beyond that line and I'd put money on Janet deep down still feeling the same insecurity she did pre-surgery and returning to the operating table in the future to have a few more things done to herself which she will tell herself will 'boost her self confidence'.

I think it's also an interesting point that these are two WOMEN... I don't see any articles about 50 year old blokes spending thousands to make them look more like their sons. Which speaks volumes about how society still places more importance on how a woman looks than it does on anything else about her; whilst it's Ok for a bloke to age gracefully a woman seemingly has to do anything possible to remain looking like a 30 year old. It's pathetic, it's unfair, it's a thorough waste and it's just WRONG.

In my opinion it's a shame Janet didn't, as I said earlier, take the opportunity to learn some new skills or try taking on a challenge which involved using her brain. Ultimately, all the work she's had done on her body will either need to be re-done, or jigged around if she still wants to look like Barbie when she's 60, whereas any knowledge she could have gained would have been hers forever. Perhaps that would have been in the long run make more of an impact on her self confidence? OH, silly me, I forget - this is England where any attempt to get yourself a decent education as regarded as way down the list of desireable activities when compared with issues such as looking like Jordan, or going out at the weekend and getting so plastered you can't stand up.

I'll say it before and I'll say it again.. if we want to have a nation which isn't forcing its womenfolk to shuttle between the plastic surgeon to try to vainly turn the clock back and the shrink when their attempts fail and they don't have the mental resources to deal with that failure, we need to change our attitude with regard to what we think is important. Susan Boyle eventually got some respect, despite her looks, because she spent her time developing a talent which had nothing to do with her appearance; I don't see Janet getting anything like that respect any time soon because all she's concentrated on is her appearance. The day the English stop using the word 'clever' as an insult will be the day the country has started to correct the imbalance between the attention it pays to rubbish and the consideration it gives to the things which really matter. Unfortunately, the pigs are cleared and ready for take off on that one...