Latinas Want Boobs, Butts And Other Ethnic Plastic Surgery

Latinas want big butts and boobs, according to a story about ethnic plastic surgery by The New York Times. What’s different about the new wave of almost post-recession plastic surgery is that it’s not concerned with trying to “change” ethnic looks, but rather, enhance ethnic stereotypes. Hence, Latinas wanting big butts and boobs, according to the story:

Among Latinos, the number was about 1.4 million, nearly 3 percent of that population and a threefold increase from nine years earlier. In 2009, about 4 percent of whites had cosmetic work done…

“My patients are proud of looking Hispanic,” said Dr. Jeffrey S. Yager, who speaks Spanish and has tripled the size of his office since opening it in 1997 in Washington Heights, a largely Dominican neighborhood in Manhattan. “I don’t get the patients who want to obscure their ethnicity.”

I wouldn’t ever get plastic surgery, just because I’m afraid that I would be that small percentage where something goes wrong, but I don’t really feel strongly about it but for one reason. If you feel like your ethnic beauty isn’t “good enough” and so you want to “change” how you look, I think it’s tragic.

I hope this story is pointing out that, in the U.S., beauty ideals are changing. That, perhaps, JLo and Kim Kardashian and Shakira are actually changing the way we perceive of beauty in this country. This may be just another New York Times “trend” piece about something that’s not really a trend, but if it’s actually true, at least I’ve got the big butt going for me.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD