Do bigger breasts mean better self-esteem?

BREASTS MAKETH A WOMAN? Even Mallika Sherawat now says that she is sick of her breasts.

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Keywords: Good Looks, Breast Implants

For the few men asked on the survey, implants or not did not matter as long as the breasts made the women “feel good about themselves” and as long as the breasts “felt real”. It all boiled down to personal choice and the feel good factor of enhancement. The women though divided over the judiciousness of having implants were pretty clear they did not want it.

Says Penelope, 26, singer and performer, “I don't like the thought of putting plastic inside something that is made for feeding your baby milk. It just seems wrong. I think that obviously beauty comes from within first. Women who choose to have implants, have an idea in their heads of what the feminine form should be, and what ‘sexy’ is. They want that image staring back at them when they look in the mirror. They want to feel and look sexy, for themselves and for others. Perhaps they feel like the only way they will truly feel like a woman, and feel sexy, is to have these breasts stuck on their chests… Each to her own I say. But I don’t think surgery is the answer to finding happiness, or ‘sexiness’.”

Ask Aanchal, 23, if she would go undergo surgery and she says, “If I go by all the media, I DO need implants. However, I’d never get them ‘fixed’ as I’d feel weird having a body that’s not really mine.” For Megha, 24, it’s all about being comfortable with herself. “I don't think people should get judgmental about girls who get it done. It is all right to get a b**b job if it makes her feel better about herself but it is something that isn't really for me: After years of being unsure about myself, I think I am perfectly at ease with it now and totally happy about it as well.” For Sarah, 25, it’s about proportion, “I don't have a problem with breast implants as long as they are in proportion to a woman’s size, i.e. a size zero woman with DD's is so unattractive; but breast implants can help a woman’s self esteem in some cases.”

Helping in self-esteem and making them feel happy about their own image: Can changing breast size really do all that? No if latest research is to be believed. An August 2007 study published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery revealed that women who’ve undergone breast enlargements are dying. It’s not due to cancer caused by silicone – another popular myth – but because these women have higher suicide risks and are three times as likely to commit suicide than other women. Loren Lipworth of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee and colleagues followed up on 3,527 Swedish women who had cosmetic breast implant surgery between 1965 and 1993. They looked at death certificates to analyze causes of death among women with breast implants. The results were shocking.

Not only were the surgically enhanced women three times likely to commit suicide, they also had a tripled risk of death from alcohol and drug use. If women are undergoing surgery to look better and feel happier, why do the figures say otherwise? Lipworth believes that some women who get implants may have psychiatric problems to start with, perhaps linked with lower self-esteem or body image disorders. And once you have it fixed in your head that you don’t look good, surgery really does not help.

Self-esteem and self-image are how and what we think of ourselves. Yes, it's not easy for everyone to feel secure about their looks if the constant message is "You don't fit in". However confidence comes from within and is not made of silicone. It's good to remember that breasts are a part of a woman, they are not the woman. If at all a woman wants to undergo surgery, perhaps it’s prudent to think about the reasons twice. And as Penelope says, “There are so many other ways to be sexy, people just need to be a bit more creative!”