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Joan Rivers, a reconstructionist

I find it ironic that Joan Rivers spent a part of her life critiquing stars for their aesthetics on red carpets. She has been known to make crass remarks about the way people dress and their fashion do's and don'ts. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions, but it is the pot calling the kettle black. She herself dresses like an out of era, Hollywood real estate agent. Her style reminds me of an exaggerated Holland Taylor, who plays Evelyn Harper on Two and a Half Men.

What does this have to do with makeup, let alone makeup in Orlando? Let us begin with her style of makeup. Well, it is more surgery than makeup. Joan was beautiful when she was young, but like many celebrities, including Heidi Montag, she elected cosmetic surgery. Surgeries do not enhance natural beauty, and if you watch celebrities over the years, you can notice that, in the end, surgeries make people look worse than they would have otherwise had they undergone the natural aging process. Classic examples are Lil' Kim, Donatella Versace, Jocelyn Wildenstein, and Pete Burns (of Dead or Alive). Not everyone can age as well as Terri Hatcher, who is rumored to only have had Botox.

Rather than enhancing natural beauty, many people use plastic surgery as a crutch to combat and rebel against aging. Although, women are raised from birth that we must look like plastic, Barbie, we are not dolls, and we have many shapes and sizes. Yet media has made it clear that we must adapt to main stream media's perception of the perfect woman and use plastic surgery as a band aid. This allows us to pay for our self-esteems. Thanks a lot, Mattel. Media perpetuates this campaign of diminishing our self-esteems by using surgically enhanced, teen models as the standard for males in their 60s to lust in product ads.

Well, world, we do not all have perfect, Barbie, shapes, or the amount of money to which Joan Rivers is privy. Joan, thank you for being such a positive role model to us all. None of your surgeries or comments have bullied anyone into fits of depression caused by low self-esteem and insecurity. Instead of helping people be comfortable with themselves, you bully them into believing you are the law of fashion. Your face alone is not fashionable! Yes, aging is not fun, but deal with it! Surgery is not always an answer (this does not pertain to those who have become disfigured for reasons that require surgery such as motor vehicle accidents or victims of fire and other natural disasters).

Getting back on topic, Orlando has a budding community of plastic surgeons. Our culture breeds promotional models who think the only way to succeed is to bleach their hairs, insert implants, and prance around in rubber bands that they call bikinis. Instead of being respectable, they opt to showcase their paid for goods in local publications that demean women and end up as Playboy's Cybergirl of the Week. That is fine for those who like that avenue, but I chose a different route, which includes not posing in a manner in which I would not want my father, a priest, or the government to see me.

I am guilty, however, of wearing cosmetics occasionally to enhance my appearance. Why not learn appropriate makeup tricks instead of resorting to surgery? Why do celebrities like Joan Rivers criticize others for what they lack themselves? Other than a nose job and possible implants, at least Lady GaGa has not dramatically altered her appearance and facial features. She may not be the most attractive celebrity, but she appears to be comfortable with her style, herself, and her makeup - for now.

Joan's makeup does not vary much, but there is not much that plasticized Barbie gone wrong could do to vary her makeup - especially at her age. Her face, along with Lil' Kim, Donatella Versace, Jocelyn Wildenstein, and Pete Burns, has fallen out of place like parts slipping and sliding everywhere. They do not look like real people; they look scary! She should have embraced her youth when she had it, but sadly she did not. Orlandoans should learn to accept themselves and women for what we are - human beings - rather than expect us to be unrealistic versions childhood ideals set by males.