No, don’t worry, I’m actually pretty pleased with my rack. However, it’s no secret that other women are unhappy with their appearance and will go to questionable lengths to achieve happiness. I don’t have too much of a problem with individual women going under the knife in pursuit of perfection – it is their choice after all. But what if there was a site that allowed women to create profiles asking men for money towards their breast augmentation surgery?
The site exists and it’s called My Free Implants. Basically, the deal is this: women can create free profiles and are selected to receive a free boob job. Men visiting the site can choose to donate money towards this surgery. However, the way in which they do so is primarily through “buying” access to these women. Here’s what the site says:
“As a member of the MyFreeImplants website you have direct access to contact the many girls that are seeking help in achieving the physical appearance that they have long desired.
Once you create your account you can choose to buy message credits in several denominations. When you use your credits to send messages to the ladies they earn credit towards their procedures. …In addition, you have the option to signup for a monthly membership that gives you 5 message credits per month along with unrestricted access to over 1000 ladies profiles.
In addition to the unrestricted access to all of the female profiles you can also help the ladies by:• Sending a direct donation to her for her procedure
• Purchase message credits that allow you to send messages to the ladies
• Request personal custom videos from the ladies
• Receive custom photos of your favorite girls (you may even request specific outfits*)
• Chat 1-on-1 online in real time while getting to know the ladies
• and more…” (emphasis added)
I shouldn’t have to point out how fucked up this sounds. The terminology “unrestricted access” evokes the image of men buying women, or receiving favors in exchange for money (like “sexy pictures” as the site terms it). The site does not require that the women give these “sexy pictures” to the men who donate to their “cause” but many do choose to post half-naked before and after images on their profile (link NSFW).
If that isn’t bad enough, the front page of the site proclaims: “Gents – Help the girl of YOUR dreams, get the body of her dreams. Develop a connection with a girl of your choice and help her earn Free Breast Implants!” So not only do men get to be the “benefactors” of these women, but they are making them into perfect little Barbie dolls & objectifying them as part of a fantasy. Sounds like fun, sign me up!
Even though I don’t have a problem with plastic surgery as a choice (it’s not for me, but who am I to judge?), I do have a problem with the impossible standards of beauty as dictated by society, the media, and oh yeah, our patriarchal culture. If a woman is choosing breast augmentation for her own reasons, that’s fine. Yet, the line between the “right” and “wrong” reasons to undergo plastic surgery are very blurry and hard to define. A woman may say she is doing this for herself, but she could very well be doing to please her husband, or make more tips working at Hooters (as one girl did on MTV’s True Life). Again, I can’t judge what is a good or a bad reason, I can only comment on the fact that plastic surgery patients are mostly women. That wouldn’t have anything to do with the sexual objectification of women in the media, would it? Nahh…couldn’t be.
So, my problem with this site goes beyond the fact that I find it to be distasteful and sexist. What really gets to me is that there are so many more charitable causes out there! Try Kiva.com, where you can lend money to third world entrepreneurs. Donate to Greenpeace. Save the environment. Why on earth would people donate money to women so they can get invasive surgery that could harm them, reduce their abilities to breastfeed their children, and feed into society’s obsession with unrealistic standards of beauty? Not to mention the fact that there are probably tons of other negative effects, like toxics released into the environment during the production of silicone breast implants, and doctors pressuring women to get more plastic surgery in order to make a buck (or several).
For any readers considering breast implant surgery, I would highly recommend paying for them yourself or, if you can’t afford it, reconsider whether it’s worth the expensive price tag. Just don’t buy into this Free Breast Implant bullshit. Getting bigger boobs is one thing, but compromising your integrity is another.
- Dollface
P.S. Check out the “idea” behind the genius of My Free Implants:
“MyFreeImplants.com started in early 2005 when a bunch of friends were attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas. During the course of the party a conversation started up about how one of the ladies had the most perfect set of breasts. She told us how she had just recently “gotten them done.” Her beautiful friend chimed in and mentioned that she wanted to get hers done but could not yet afford the $6000 price tag that her friend had just paid. One of us yelled out “I got $5 on it” and then someone else offered $10, and then $20, and then $50. By the time we got around the suite there was a verbal commitment amongst all the guys in the room to pay for 25% of her implants!
With that initial brain storm and proof of concept we set out to actually raise the rest of the money needed for a full procedure. We came up with the name MyFreeImplants.com and put together a quick website and started spreading the word online. It was an instant hit and donations from all over the world starting pouring in. Within 4 months the remainder of the money was raised with a little extra left over to pay for the website costs.”
Quite the Hallmark story, isn’t it?
Silicone is repulsive. Men who like fake tits are jackasses, and women who get them are idiots.
So, people have thought of everything, haven’t they? *Shudder.*
There’s plenty one could say about the significance of the body in our (every?) society. But if I’m going to be donating to any cause, it better be to something like a friend’s gender reassignment surgery.
Let’s start up a fake version of this site where we tell the guys that their money is going to pay for breast implants, but instead we’ll donate all of it to rape crisis centers and domestic violence centers and global women’s organizations.
@ KathyH — Apparently, they have. I think donating to a friend’s gender reassignment surgery would be a much more meaningful cause.
@ EvilSlutClique — Great idea! What kills me is the guy who runs the site said in the article I linked to that he would expand the company from “just breasts” to other cosmetic surgery, except, get this: men won’t pay for it. There’s just something about boobs that gets the money flowing. Pshh.
I believe you actually posted about breasts and how sexualized the are earlier last year, dollface. And I think that plays an important role here. When women’s value is determined by the size of their tits, of course they’re going to want to get implants. Many of them will also think that in getting bigger tits they are doing something good for themselves. Just like girls who think getting pedicures and buying makeup and new clothes are doing something good for themselves. IMHO though, it’s all superficiality.
And it’s terribly classist, sexist, and probably racist. Despite the fact that men are paying for the breast implants now instead of the women, there is a repulsive factor here that makes working class women (or even middle and upper class women) dependent on upper class men. That dependency is intertwined with the overt sexualization and objectification of women’s bodies. Furthermore, we can expect those bodies to be white (as we see from the pics above), as white bodies are more valued in a racist, patriarchal society than bodies of color. It also takes away power from the men who can’t afford breast implants for women, perpetuating false definitions of masculinity/manhood.
And that is why it bugs me when women get breast implants even for *just themselves.* Because while it may *truly* make them happier (though I highly doubt and question this), it perpetuates all these systems that work to control and oppress other people. Because if 50% of the women of this world buy into this shit and let themselves be carved like Play-Doh by strangers they do not know, the other 50% are then maginalized, devalued, and even dehumanized (to a greater extent than the women of clay). I agree with ESC–let’s create a site where we donate money to actually help women who are seriously suffering.
Dollface,
You recent comment on my blog led me to wonder about “male enhancement” drugs, which I know very little about, apart from being bombarded by them every time I turn on the TV or read a magazine (although much less nowadays than before, or maybe I just watch/read less nowadays? I’m not sure). I’ll just say that it’s interesting that the voiceovers on these commercials are, probably 99% of the time, male. But I wonder how girlfriends and wives respond to these commericals as well.
Of course, the male issue is still much more of a private one than women’s issues with breast size; just to put an obvious disclaimer on the comment, I don’t mean to equate the two circumstances in any way. As I was thinking about this again, though, I remembered a conversation a female friend was having with me about her high standards for penis size, and I couldn’t help but put my thoughts out there….
K
Wait, womens’ value is determined by the size of their breasts? Aww, bummer! I must not be worth much as my breasts barely fill my tiny 32A bra.
Seriously though, the whole idea of this site is disturbing. What’s even more disturbing is when women are called “projects” during that video. Women are humans, not something that can be entered into a science fair!
@KathyH-
I’m disgusted by those male enhancement commercials. There was an infomercial about a certain male enhancement pill. I think it was on for a half hour. One of the testimonials was of a man saying how happy he was he started taking the pills. Then his girlfriend said something a long the lines of, “If he weren’t taking the pills, I wouldn’t be his girlfriend right now”. Gawd, how rude, and what a way to make your significant other feel more inadequate.
I’ve never understood the large penis obsession of many of my friends. I’m not really impressed by penis size, rather I’m impressed by the person the penis is attached to.
That is horrendous. And what made it more infuriating is that there are actually women who sign up in the program. What’s happening to our world today?
I think the thing that’s even more disgusting is that breast plants *aren’t* forever. You don’t pay 6,000 and call it a day–they’ll have to be replaced or taken out entirely at a later date and it’s not as if that’s going to be free.
@ Dolly – Breasts are highly sexualized in our culture and therefore it’s so blatantly obvious that this is about sex and becoming more desirable to men, not increasing one’s “self-esteem”. Awesome comment, thanks.
@ KathyH – I’ve thought about those as well…it’s always the male voice telling men that it’s better to be “well-endowed.” I just subscribe to the simple motto: “It’s not the size of the boat, it’s the motion in the ocean.” Now, if only we could come up with an equivalent phrase for women. Maybe: “Real breasts are best, no matter what the size.” I admit that’s not quite as catchy…
@ Jackie – It’s really obnoxious and disturbing, isn’t it? A woman’s worth shouldn’t be her appearance (or one facet of her appearance, either).
Also, that is pretty rude of the girlfriend in that commercial.
@ Ambika – You make a really good point. Many people don’t realize breast implants have to be replaced and maintained (which involves, of course, more expensive surgery).
I can’t believe the lady in that video is motivated to do this because she has never experienced a guy staring at her breasts! It really must be a case of rock-bottom self-esteem when you would go through this type of procedure to get a second of such crude attention from total strangers. And it sends such a warped message to men, too, that we ladies actually like and encourage being objectified. Really depressing.
you say these women are compromising their integrity…what about the women that do that everyday for no reason…just to be that provocative woman. If this is what they want to do and they are getting something out of it that they want WITHOUT having to pay for it…then let them do so. It is not like they are meeting these men and being hookers. Some women weren’t born with everything they want. You women that were wouldn’t understand so don’t judge.
And one more thing..when you women with large breasts or decent ones go out with your cleaving baring shirts….what are you doing?????? Your OBJECTIFYING YOURSELF. You obviously want the attention….so whats wrong with women that dont have breasts wanting the attention or just wanting to be happy with ourselves. IF it werent for the men they wouldnt even have the website so who should we really be looking upon here?
You people are missing the whole point. Wether you are for or against plastic surgery, i really don’t give a shit. Everyone has a right to do what they want with their body. But MYFREEIMPLANTS.com is fucked up for one huge reason only, not only are these men buying these women like prostitutes, or like they are there little dolls, but the site claims you don’t have to do anything raunchy or take naked pictures or be expected to do anything undignified. This is utter bullshit. You don’t get a dime unless you are a total whore. Women out there who are desperate to feel better about themselves sign onto this site and find themselves doing shameful things for bigger tits. It’s so degrading and this site is just taking advantage of self conscious women. It’s pure ignorance at work.