What is it about the way we organize our societies for why women wind up thinking that plastic surgery is the only way they’ll get anywhere? Of course, when studies keep popping up that show correlation between weight and money-making, small wonder women willingly go under a knife to “improve” themselves for their jobs.
Back in February I wrote about Penny Johnson, the British woman who opted to sue her plastic surgeon after botched facial work left her nerve damaged and emotionally and financially crippled by her loss of looks.
I pointed this out last time and I say again: she did not have to say yes to anything Le Roux Fourie suggested she do. She went in expecting to fix the bags under her eyes and change her nose a little and Fourie pounced on the chance to get more money from her with extra, unasked for procedures. And, it turns out she totally bought his spiel about needing a breast enhancement on top of it all, which he managed to screw up, too.
Johnson asked the court for £54 million, what she thought was a good approximation of income lost on account of her failed business and half the shares. In the end, she got a fraction of that. Mr Justice Owen
awarded a total of £80,000 damages for the facial disfigurement, the asymmetry and pain caused by the breast surgery and the psychological consequences of the injuries, and more than £6m for past and future loss of earnings.
Assessing Mrs Johnson’s claim for loss of earnings, the judge said it was clear she had persuaded herself that its prospects were far better than could realistically be justified.
“She has understandably become preoccupied by what might have been, which has affected her judgment as to what could and would in reality have been achieved,” he said.
He’s probably right about that, but I’m sure it’s a blow for Johnson. She’s living in a world where it seems like a woman’s image is everything, where vanity is rewarded. It might not matter how confident she can be about her job skills if she can’t be confident about her looks.
Hell of a system.
One Minion's Opinion 