Today on my timeline I saw the new Billie Eilish photoshoot for Vogue. She was in provocative clothes at the ripe age of 19, talking about sexual exploitation and body positivity (I'm sure there's some irony in there but I'm too lazy to point it out).

What I mostly had an issue with was that in the article she's claimed to have said that you should do whatever you want, whenever you want, in relation to your body. She gave the example of showing skin or getting surgery.

Now, I can not be the only one who has an issue with this plastic surgery epidemic we are going through. Not only do women's bodies and looks go out of fashion fast in general, nearly every normal quirk has been deemed ugly, then beautiful, and then ugly again in the past. It makes me wonder, how smart really is it to get plastic surgery, if in a couple of years the thing you changed is trendy again. Not to mention the fact that nearly everyone on the planet is unhappy about certain parts on their look. If we constantly push this surgery positive thinking, what things in our psyche are we rewarding? Certainly not "I am worthy the way I am". How in the world does body positivity translate to "I will only love myself if I change my appearance via surgery"?

Why does nobody seem to question this? I will never stop anyone from getting surgery nor do I want to take their right to get it away. But I will always ask the question why, why is it that we only seem to care about our looks and why do we feed this self hate?

Not to mention that plastic surgeries kind of strengthen the classist idea that only the rich are beautiful, because obviously not everyone can afford surgery and thus remain "ugly". Of course plastic surgeons would want you to uncritically campaign for them for the sake of 'body positivity', they profit a shit ton of money!

I'm sick and tired of harmful (or at least questionable) things being classified as "empowering" for women. Why is it that people don't question any of the motivations behind their actions?

I'm the same age as Billie, turning 20 in this month. I can't help but think that what she is saying; 'do whatever you want whenever you want' is naive and juvenile. It's of course also a convenient message to swallow for her young audience who are looking for reasons to justify all their actions. She probably got these talking points from libfems on twitter and never questioned them.