I’ve been mulling this post over for almost a week. There is a lot to think about and I needed to let it stew a bit in my brain.
A transsexual named Nina Arsenault created a show called The Silicone Diaries. I heard her interviewed on CBC’s show Q and she is incredibly honest, smart and candid. Her show is all about her journey from male to female and the 60 surgeries in between. Is that normal for a transsexual? No. Nina went further than most. She didn’t only want to be a woman, she wanted to be the “perfect” woman.
Given that I teach women to love themselves for who they are and what they look like, I listened with great interest to Nina’s interview. She describes herself as a “silicone bombshell.” She modeled herself after mannequins and walking mannequins such as Pamela Anderson. She calls herself an “imitation of an imitation.” She knows that, even for women born as women, her look is manufactured and unrealistic.
What I admire about Nina is how frank she is about her transformation. She makes no claims that she is a normal girl or even an average transexual. She specifically wanted to be “special” and did what it took to get there, even to the extent of illegal procedures. She took a lot of risks to get where she wanted to be. No matter what it is, I admire someone who does what it takes to follow a dream that comes from an authentic place rather than the prodding of others. As she said, obsession can be a good thing when there’s passion behind it.
I certainly don’t recommend plastic surgery. As a whole, I am against it. And, like anything, there are always exceptions. My biggest objection to it is that the people who engage in it somehow think that it will “fix” their self esteem issues or make them more desirable to others. This inevitably fails because there is something much deeper going on in that person’s psyche that needs to be addressed.
For Nina, she loved herself, she was sure of who she was from a very young age but her body didn’t match. As soon as she was able, she did what she had to to make the outside and inside match. She experienced discomfort when seeing the masculinity in her body and face and was prepared to do anything to change it. In order to “shatter and eradicate” the masculinity, she was willing to look plastic.
Nina made some astute observations in her interview. One is that many of the people who are against her are “old school” feminists who are against any objectification of women in any way shape or form. As she put it, she “objectified my body for my own pleasure and empowerment.” She came from a place of strength, not weakness. That makes all the difference when we make decisions. Feminism is having a choice, not a set of rules. I agree with her wholeheartedly on that!
One of the final questions in the interview was about her definition of beauty. I love this. Everyone has their own beauty, she said. Then, as an artist, she sees things in form, structure and mass which is a different form of beauty. It is the eye vs. the heart. With our heart, we can see the beauty in everyone and all things. With our eyes we only see the surface and that’s where we can misinterpret.
If I hadn’t heard Nina’s story, I would likely have felt much different about her. Oh, she went through 60 surgeries to look like an overblown beauty ideal. How disgusting!
Having heard her story, I feel very differently. I saw her heart. I saw the beauty and authenticity within and know that despite her outward appearance, she is truly beautiful. If her face fell tomorrow and her curves sagged to balloons, she would still be as beautiful because her heart will remain.
Nina, with all her enhancements and changes, is truly the embodiment of Be Beautiful, Be YOU and I applaud that loudly. Nina Arsenault, you get a standing ovation!
Love, Christie