Heidi Montag and the 'Fembot' revolution

America is being overtaken by a platoon of blonde, silicon-breasted "Fembots." Or so says the Daily Beast's Rebecca Dana, warning of "a species of walking, talking Barbie dolls, concentrated mainly in Los Angeles and New York, that appears increasingly likely to take over the world." But are celebrities who augment their looks with plastic surgery really a new phenomenon — and if they are, what does it mean?

Fembots are out there, and they're proud of it: "As long as there has been plastic surgery, there have been surgically enhanced women," continues Rebecca Dana at the Daily Beast. The difference is, these women are proud of it. Years ago, celebrities would go underground "until the collagen settled." Now, Heidi Montag's "gag-inducing 10-in-one-day full body reconstruction" is on the front of every magazine in America. This plastic renaissance is out in the open, and it's not going away.

"Rise of the Fembots"

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The pornification of our culture contributes to this: Dana's Fembots are a "dubious trend," says Katy at Jezebel. But she's right that "big fake, breasts, plump fake lips, [and] acres of fake blonde hair" are the "standards of beauty" these days. Not coincidentally, that's also the "aesthetic of mainstream porn," of course. And while it might be a little simplistic to blame this on the rise of porn in our culture, "there has got to be a better answer to the question what is woman? than what do men want?"

"Don't blame porn for the plastic female"

Even Hollywood sees through this fad: Don't speak too soon, says Sara Stewart at the New York Post. Women realize that the likes of Montag are "terrible role models," and even Hollywood is starting to "actively prohibit implants." Casting agents agree fake implants have "become a joke," and a casting call for Pirates of the Caribbean 4 recently specified that "women must have real breasts." On this evidence, "The human Barbie doll look may finally be on the way out."

"The boob bust!"