Y’know, it’s interesting in all this talk about bodily autonomy for trans kids and kids who want to do ballet and the similar but oppositely oriented conversation about make-up and cosmetic surgery…
I’ve never seen anyone talk about braces. Like for your teeth? That’s purely cosmetic and absolutely does do damage to your teeth (and for me, at least, permanently damaged my ability to recognize, self-medicate, or seek treatment for my pain, but that probably has more to do with my parents forcing me to get braces multiple times whenever the orthodontist said I could use them again, and also refusing to let me take painkillers when I got the wires tightened…), my new dentist’s first comment upon looking at my teeth for the first time was “oh, orthodontics, huh?” in that really strained tone of someone who is about to go feral over, say, anti-vaxxing, but knows the kid isn’t to blame for their parents’ decisions.
I wonder if the saturation of orthodontics in middle-class America is contributing to people being classist towards those with “bad” teeth, or who aren’t the epitome of Hollywood cosmetics in general.
Brought to you by this video on Youtube where some lawyers try to argue they were going to mock the appearance of a witness and imply he looked like Charles Manson on cross to impeach his character/reliability. And my brain drawing a connection between that and the critical thinking epidemic we’re having because standardized tests dull CT skills. And wondering what else we’re dulling by regressing everyone towards the mean. (Also, Elden Ring and its commentary on people, conservatism, and fascism, but like. Not much, and not in a way that makes Elden Ring philosophical concepts and ideology required reading, it’s just a lot of what I’ve been thinking about recently and it’s definitely coloring my thoughts some)