‘Tough Titty’

A few days a go we reported on the unfolding scandal of certain French-made breast implants, filled with ‘industrial grade’ silicone which are being shown to have a very high failure rate. In France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Belgium women are being advised to have them removed. Two British surgeons meanwhile have collected data suggesting that the rupture of the French implants may be as high as between 16% and 34% and yet here in Britain the Government and the cosmetic surgery industry continue to dither and prevaricate about what should be done and who should pay for it. One Harley street surgeon has said that the failures are but simply a breach of the outer-membrane of the implants but a ‘complete disintegration. At the moment some surgeons in the UK are ‘still charging a consulting fee and full upfront payment for removal and exchange of faulty French implants that they fitted.’

Meanwhile other clinics have gone out of business and many women are finding there is no record of the implants they were fitted with. [Currently in the USA there is talk of greater regulation and the need for records to be kept]

Meanwhile, some people might be forgiven for thinking that some cosmetic surgery businesses work to the same ethical standards that were once the hallmark of the double-glazing or used car industries.

Meanwhile women caught in the middle are being left worried as to the best course of action, with many not having the money to finance a second round of surgery.

Predictably sections of the press and blogosphere have been having a field day suggesting that any woman decadent, vain and feeble minded enough to want her bosom enlarged has only herself to blame. A common cry of self-opinionated and heartless bloggers has been ‘tough titty,’ something hardly surprising here in the faceless and malice ridden world of cyberspace. Serious broadsheet newspapers have referred to ‘neurotic vanity.’

Sadly in this modern world people are still judged by what they look like, as opposed to what they think or say. It remains a fact that attractive women get jobs more easily, earn more and have a greater choice of sexual companions. And yes before somebody says it, blondes do have more fun!

Meanwhile I find it wrong that anyone should gainsay the needs of other women to look more attractive. Rightly or wrongly, for some women acquiring a more impressive bosom has proved to be a life-changing event.

Meanwhile the real villains of the piece, the politicians, bosom-worshipping men and cosmetic surgeons are keeping their heads down. As Minette Marrin says in the Times:

‘What’s wrong….is not the desire for beauty or a bigger bosom. What is entirely wrong is that the beauty industry, which is a terrible Vanity Fair of bandits, charlatans and quacks, is so loosely regulated. That is the scandal. But it is no reason to sneer at less fortunate women for doing what rich women have always done more successfully, time out of mind. That’s priggery.’