All over the world, the number of men undergoing plastic surgery to improve their image is growing on an unprecedented scale. In the UK and US especially, men are quickly closing the gap on females, who until recently received over 90% of cosmetic surgery procedures each year.
The reason for this shift is simple: men are becoming women, whilst women are becoming men. In a gradual gender personality shift beginning with the advent of mass-media (television) influence, the line between male and female is blurring.
The change has been a long time coming, but now, across all industries, the products and services traditionally thought of as ‘for women’, or ‘for men’, in the most part, are now switching places.. Sales in make-up, cosmetics and styling products are booming from increased male custom. Barber shops are dying whilst all-male hair salons are springing up in their place. In contrast, women’s football is on the up and the number of women purchasing a tool belt and 35mm chisel is also increasing.
Is this a good or bad thing? Opinions are divided on this one, with two major schools of thought. Lee May, the popular modern philosopher sees it as a good thing.
"We are now becoming ourselves, with the male and female halves of our souls combining to create fuller, more real human beings."
The second camp however, is a little more sceptical, seeing men as slowly turning into sissies, and
"women [are] becoming butch lesbian types with stubbly chins and a scale tattoo of a wheelying Harley Davidson complete with flaming exhaust hurtling over their shoulder blades."
says Graham Proud, the controversial Australian writer. Rather than the lines between us blurring, he sees our roles as swapping over.
Whether there is any ground to these contrasting opinions is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain – the pharmaceutical and cosmetic surgery industries are getting richer by the day as the queue of men and women lining up outside the clinics as they wait for their liposuction is getting ever longer.
