Mediatic Narcissism and cosmetic surgery ..

(By Hella Ahmed) Despite the great health risks to be taken by resorting to invasive surgical procedures, the human body is subjected to so-called refinements to reach the height of what may be required in terms of aesthetic appearance in line with our era. It seems to me that this phenomenon has turned the search for beauty into a trivial mission, because everything is possible. The real has become unreal as one forces the other to look like a fantasy only to end up feeling duped when the fantasy becomes a fabricated reality and therefore accessible.

The unreal becoming a reality sought after and then disliked, we are witnessing in certain circles a relationship to sexuality that suffers the consequences of this mechanism. However, it is important not to generalize from issues in specific contexts to draw a crude connection between our modern communications in the age of social media and a breakdown in healthy sexuality. This would only create the opportunity to intellectualize a new non-existent « dramatic » human condition and to juggle concepts unnecessarily. Sexuality has not become unhealthy with modernity; it has adapted both in its healthy expression and in its deviant forms.

Between real and unreal, perpetual dissatisfaction

Many men end up being dissatisfied with what they have wished for, even demanded or financed. They want a perfect young woman, with big breasts, a slender waist and a nice ass, but still consider that it is wrong to glorify the outcome if she’s had major surgeries to enhance her appearance and please, they will express a preference for naturalness according to a standard unlikely to be predominant in nature.

This dissatisfaction can justify in their eyes to express their hitherto latent violence, and to denigrate in the fray the representation of the woman they wanted discreetly or openly plastic and fantastic. They hurl their anger in word and deed against the still, continually, imperfect object, and bully the being who gives life to this objectified body called “woman”. Women therefore largely pay the price even if some of them are paid outright to change their physical appearance. And when they over indulge, they are publicly ridiculed, although, also praised for their spending ability and adherence to certain social norms associated with modern chic.

Many of them transform physically (aesthetically) to be desirable and desired, but don’t look so appealing in the end, not to everyone anyway. And so, they are now being asked to do bizarre things to satisfy needs which, although linked to sexuality, seem rather to translate a new way of conceiving of the human being who has become a domesticated robot to be treated like a pet whose suffering « is not » or is not to be considered, a human machine to be fed and humiliated, since ready to do anything to earn more money and afford this luxury displayed on the networks which seem so accessible on condition of make tough choices and stick with them.

The trap of excess

The manifestations of power by wealthy people who practice bestiality caused great scandals in 2022. All limits were exceeded, shocking images of unspeakable practices circulated on the web. Thus, many famous influencers introduced to the profession of influencer by debuting in reality TV have had to deny the rumours of bloggers associating them with hardcore prostitution networks in Dubai.

Strange, demeaning and fundamentally illegal demands for large sums of money handed over by wealthy clients have been the root of these gossip scandals. Also, conflicts between many image and buzz entrepreneurs have recently been quite revealing of a modern, clearly visible, malaise, which mixes envy, jealousy, financial cunning, turf wars and distress. There was obviously a sad ugliness hidden behind beautiful appearances, displayed great successes, prosperity, health and happiness.

Money and the dehumanization of the human bond

The need to innovate to overcome an ever-increasing dissatisfaction of people who have all the means and who no longer know how to relieve themselves of their physical and mental frustrations has, in my opinion, been fuelled by an exhibitionism that social media platforms normalized. The ability to show off encourages displays of power based on reducing the other to an object to be humiliated. This leads me to ask the following question: can the shock of the real be confronted with grace by the narcissist to whom his finitude is revealed?

Becoming aware of one’s fragility as a living fragment of the unattractive “we are all equal” or, on the contrary, of a similar frustration in the face of “many of us have great means”, can be perceived as a degradation of prestige by who feels above the crowd. Humility as a normal reaction to the obvious is repugnant to some who find themselves informed of their common human nature. The consumption of the body and the soul of the human object, a machine with a stifled soul, therefore its submission, facilitates the maintenance of an illusion about oneself which begins to fade following the shocking observations concerning a superiority up to then presumed. Thus, it is an illusion that must be revived somehow as it weakens, as a protection against the collapse of the ego (Profils d’ombres et de lumières, Hella Ahmed, 2022. All rights reserved).

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