This thread makes me think of Lolo Ferrari, who probably won't be a familiar name to anyone outside Europe. She was an iconic diva, especially in Britain and her native France, throughout the latter half of the 1990s, and was driven by a desire to achieve larger and larger breasts, eventually attaining a 71" bosom. The tongue-in-cheek title of her singing album
Airbag Generation was indicative of the fact that she never took herself too seriously in public... but away from the public eye, she was a very troubled and shy person, who was using her mammoth mammaries as a means of evading dealing with other inner demons. She died of a suspected self-induced overdose aged just 29 in 2000.
For me, Lolo - whom a certain part of me loves as an archetypal tragic diva - is an extreme example of the problem I have with many cases of breast "enhancement" --- it can all-too-often be a superficial means of 'solving' one's problems, but it's simply a diversion rather than a cure on any level.
I do agree with b.c. that breast "enhancement"
can benefit the confidence of
some women
if kept to sane, realistic proportions and
if conducted after detailed consultation with mental health professionals - which latter is all-too-seldom the case these days.
From another perspective, though, I can appreciate the desire to have the surgery on a fetishistic level, akin to other body alterations such as piercings, tattoos, etc. But I actually don't think this is at odds with what I said above:
so long as it benefits and pleases the individual, and affords them a better self-image and life, then I'm all for it.
In case anyone is interested in Lolo Ferrari:
http://www.born-today.com/Today/pix/ferrari_l2.jpg
http://www.filmfestivals.com/cannes96/lolo2.gif
http://postnext.com/archives/Lolo_Ferrari03.jpg
http://ohohfun.com/images/sas-lolo_ferrari.jpg
http://www.goodbyemag.com/mar00/ferrari.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolo_Ferrari