Theres no shame in a face-lift.

last updated 8 January 2015

United Kingdom

Caitlin Moran

Enough with the uproar against plastic surgery, said Caitlin Moran in the London Times. In the wake of studies showing a rapid increase in face-lifts among the 50-plus set, Britain has been awash in "tut-tutting" comments that such procedures are "morally dubious" because they waste money and surgical expertise for mere vanity. The condemnation is hardly surprising. "Women doing anything is always discussed in terms of its moral dimension," whether it be "working more" or "breeding less." Society, meanwhile, is uninterested in the morality of such typically male pursuits as selling arms to dictatorships that will use them against helpless villagers. Of course, if you’re a feminist who believes that the desire to look pretty is an "artificialconstructimposedonwomenbyapatriarchaloppressor™" then you will surely see a moral dimension in the decision to opt for a nose job. But since preening is a female trait in just about every culture on the planet, it may be more accurate, as well as kinder, to consider it an innate behavior. It’s hard enough to get older without being judged on our coping mechanisms. So go ahead. "If you’re aging badly, and starting to look like a carrier bag full of cheap mince that’s been kicked down a towpath in the rain, have your face-lift." Consider it your DNA-given right "to be narcissistic."