Introduction

I will outline key arguments or beliefs that are commonly thought or said to dissuade the pursuit of cosmetic surgery to increase your physical attractiveness on the red pill. For each I will outline the argument or belief and discuss a counterargument which is my opinion on the matter.

Body

[1]. Altering your appearance surgically shows overinvestment in what others think of you, which is unattractive and defeats the point of cosmetic surgery.

This is the primary argument against cosmetic surgery in the red pill. Investment in what others think of you is known to be unattractive, a fair criticism of altering your appearance surgically.

Counterargument: There are two points to address, the first being detectability and the second being psychological.

(a) Detectability. Cosmetic surgery is as private as any other aspect of your medical history.

(b) Psychological. IDGAF mentality is something to be strived for but never exists practically. We need to give some minimal number of fucks about our appearance (e.g. basic hygiene, grooming, dressing well) to operate without excessive friction in our social and professional circles, regardless of whether we embrace RP principles or not. Cosmetic surgery is not betraying values in ways we are not already doing to operate in modern society. Furthermore, cosmetic surgery is a temporary commitment that does not preclude long term cultivation of IDGAF mentality.

[2]. Unspoken concern that it might be done for the wrong reasons.

In the context of the red pill focusing on male sexual strategy, discussion of cosmetic surgery will likely be to improve your statistical outcomes by being more physically attractive. considering the broad number of dimensions to overall attractiveness, it is not unreasonable to wonder if physical attractiveness is the bottleneck.

Counterargument: Cosmetic surgery can still be a tool to increase overall physical attractiveness if approached in a manner that explores other alternatives beforehand. Furthermore, cosmetic surgery does not prevent long term cultivation of attractive behaviors.

[3]. What if physical attractiveness plays only a small role in your outcomes?

In the red pill it is generally accepted that physical attractiveness is a dimension of overall attractiveness. What makes general understanding of the role physical attractiveness plays challenging is that individual people do not change drastically in physical attractiveness over their lives and cannot compare their experiences on that basis. If physical attractiveness plays a small role in general attractiveness, the risks of cosmetic surgery (i.e. revisions, financial cost) will likely outweigh the benefits.

Counterargument: Arguments in favor of physical attractiveness playing a large role (as opposed to small) are numerous, with some caveats. The first point to make is that physical attractiveness and statistical outcomes do not follow a linear relationship - it is better modeled by an exponential one where the 80th percentile is a transition from not-yet-attractive to attractive. At the lower percentiles unattractiveness will cause social friction. At the higher percentiles attractiveness will generate tingles passively. I will outline several points suggesting physical attractiveness does not play a small role in general attractiveness:

(a) Attaining your peak physical state is core RP philosophy (lift, lose weight, groom yourself, and dress well), suggesting that physical attractiveness plays a non-trivial role in general attractiveness.

(b) The strong positive socioeconomic effects of male height (actually a proxy for skeletal structure), the easiest aspect of physical attractiveness to measure and generally believed to be the most important component of male attractiveness.

(c) The anecdotal and studied effects of large weight loss, the most dramatic way physical attractiveness will vary over a single person's lifetime. For example, bariatric weight-loss surgery has a strong correlation with future infidelity/divorce for both men and women.

(d) The feasibility of online dating, where judgments are largely made on physical attractiveness for both men and women. For about 80% of men, online dating is extremely challenging, maybe prohibitively so. The success of very physically attractive men in online dating is also an interesting counter-point to criticism that perhaps physically attractive men are more attractive for behavioral reasons (read: confidence), because selecting men in online dating is largely visual for women.

[4]. Cosmetic surgery seems extreme.

Cosmetic surgery is both a large financial commitment and is a medical procedure. The nature of medical procedures carries some risk due to its invasive nature. Perhaps cosmetic surgery is exposing yourself to too much risk.

Counterargument: Cosmetic surgery for men largely consists of what is considered surface procedures. The largest risks come from anesthesia, infection (necessitating removal of an implant), and numbness of the skin over the incision site. This risk profile is not largely different than wisdom tooth extraction or a colonoscopy (safer, arguably), both procedures the large majority of men will undergo in their lifetimes without any complications.

Summary

Arguments against cosmetic surgery are

[1]. It shows investment in what others think of you. My counterargument is that others are not privy to your medical history unless you want them to be, and that IDGAF mentality doesn't exist in practice anyway. Furthermore, cosmetic surgery is a temporary commitment that does not prevent long-term cultivation of attractive behaviors.

[2]. Maybe it's being done for the wrong reasons. My counterargument is that this does not prevent cosmetic surgery from being an effective tool that can be used in conjunction with other RP core principles.

[3]. Physical attractiveness may play a small role in generating attraction. My counterargument is that there are very good reasons to suspect that it actually plays a large role, and that either way, cosmetic surgery is by implication considered an effective tool.

[4]. That surgical options for increasing physical attractiveness are too extreme. My counterargument is that most forms of cosmetic surgery share the same risk profile of wisdom tooth extraction and a colonoscopy, which are procedures most men will have anyway.

My thoughts on the subject

Cosmetic surgery can be an effective tool in the RP arsenal for certain use cases and it does not run counter to core RP principles. It lacks general applicability due to the large financial commitment, but should not be disregarded outright due to the role physical attractiveness plays in general attractiveness.