Is plastic surgery the answer to bullying?

Is dealing with bullies just a matter of nips and tucks? ABC News reports on a growing trend: Parents getting plastic surgery for their young children and teens to stop them from being bullied. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of children and teens getting cosmetic surgery has increased nearly 30 percent over the past decade, and experts believe that bullying is behind the big uptick. Is getting a child plastic surgery a good parental move in the fight against bullies?

It is understandable why parents would do this: "Surgery may seem a drastic solution," says Pattie Byrd at Gather, but parents feel they have to do something. Bullying can be devastating to children, leading to everything from depression to poor academic performance to acting out at others. Still, I think kids need to learn to respect themselves and others without surgical enhancement.

"Mother responds to bullies with plastic surgery for child"

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

How sad that it has come to this: "It's devastating to me that some kids, especially young ones," feel they have to change the way they look through surgery to get bullies to leave them alone, says Meredith Carroll at Babble. Still, I'm not "entirely opposed" to kids doing this if it makes them feel better. They're desperate for help, but schools, and society as a whole, have been shown to be ineffective at tackling bullying.

"Is plastic surgery for kids the right solution to stop bullying?"

Surgery is not the solution to bullying: While pinning a kid's ears will fix ears that stick out, it won't end bullying, says Sadie Stein at Jezebel. Bullies will always find something to pick on; "if it's not one thing, it will be another." We need to focus on changing bullies, not their victims.

"Parents hope plastic surgery will end bullying"