Today’s visual culture has changed remarkably in the past few generations and plastic surgery helped contribute to the change. Professor Tanya Sheehan told us about the two different forms of plastic surgery: reconstructive and cosmetic. Reconstructive is meant to restore function to the body in response to disease or damage, while cosmetic improves the body’s aesthetic appearance. One thing the two types have in common is that they both associate health with beauty, nature, and social status. Plastic surgery has had an affect on both social and emotional states of humans. I believe that the standard beauty image today, that of a young, white, tall, and skinny woman, was partly caused by plastic surgery. Plastic surgery is a way for someone who wasn’t born with what society views as beauty to achieve said beauty. I believe it allows for the conformity of society and a narrowing view that society has of beauty. There is nothing natural about a body that has undergone cosmetic plastic surgery and one plastic surgery is very similar to another. For example, in the show the Swan Project, every woman ended up looking very similar to each other, ending up with a lighter skin tone, bigger and wider smile, and similar body type. I believe that beauty shouldn’t be judged solely on what you look like on the outside, but also on who you are as a person. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but also in the beholden.