THE HEIGHT OF VANITY

The Height of Vanity by Richard Jones is a disturbing article about women, who stop at nothing to become taller. The author describes  patients in hospitals with large metal frames attached to their lower limbs, who can barely walk.  Due to plastic surgery, it is now possible to increase the height of an individual. The author talks about the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, where doctors perform this type of surgery many times a week. Jones writes, "For Chinese women, the pressure to be tall invades all aspects of life. Chinese society equates height with beauty and power" (p. 508). Also, there are many companies which place height requirements for job candidates, which puts pressure on people who want to get the position. The average cost for leg lengthening surgery is about $10000 for the full treatment, when the average Chinese family grosses about $4300 a year. The operation itself is complicated, and the recovery is extremely painful. The surgeon has to saw the bone of each leg in half, and then the long metal pin is inserted in the bone cavity of each leg. The metal frame is adjusted to force the bones apart and stretch the skin, muscles, and nerves. After six months, two more surgeries have to be performed to remove nails and metal frames. The pain is unbearable after surgeries, since it takes the whole year to recover. The majority of women who do the surgery do so secretly.

BEIJING, Oct. 15 --  Around 1,000 beauties and handsome gents lined up at a downtown hotel in Shanghai early Saturday to take part in an interview for a flight attendants selection, attracting many curious looks from passers-by.
Minimum height requirement is between 5'0-5'1 and the maximum ranges between 5'8-6'3.

Prior to regarding the article, "The Height of Vanity" by Richard Jones, I had heard about the procedure of leg lengthening surgery being done to obtain job positions  such as flight attendant. However, I had underestimated the popularity of the surgery and degree of pain and time the procedure actually takes. The article discusses the popularity of the leg- lengthening surgery in China, where a surgeon perform this procedure on several patients a week. This all due to the fact that China's cultural ideal is being tall and women feel pressure to be tall. Height is considered to equal to beauty and power. Therefore, Chinese women get leg-lengthening surgery a procedure that is unbearably painful and requires a long recovery which takes at least a year.To think that "leg-lengthening surgery was actually first introduced in 1951 to treat patients where legs had naturally grown two different lengths, or to fix broken bones that had grown back crooked." It's sad to see how much it has escalated now and the extreme lengths people are willing to go without thinking about the consequences just to achieve the ideal of being tall! 

In China city of Guangzhou most women who are dreaming of becoming taller go through cosmetic surgery that increases the body's length. Supposedly in the Chinese society being tall shows that you have the beauty and the power.  It's crazy to see how women are changing themselves and going through the pain which takes about a year of recovery time just to grow about four or more inches of their height. In the book by Richard Jones, The Height of Vanity said, "Many image-driven companies place height requirements on hiring; so do entire branches of the Chinese government." This is all strange to hear, because an individuals height has nothing to do with the job. Some women who go through the leg-lengthening process usually do it secretly and don't even tell their husbands about it. A woman named, Soong Ling, who lives in Guangzhou went through the surgery of adding an extra four inches to her legs didnt tell her husband she was going through this surgery. Ling explains that the main reason that she did this type of surgery was because she was jealous that her husband, a tour operator was always mixing with the "tall and beautiful girls" that were in the travel industry.



Reading this article, it amazes me that women will go to such extreme extents in order to become a few inches taller. It may be shocking to me, due to the reason that our culture is not as obsessed with becoming taller. Of course, as the author says, "Chinese society equates height with beauty and power,"this is quite true. This may be the main explanation for so many young women in the Chinese culture who want to become taller. Our society, does associate height with power and beauty, but no to the extent where we will risk our well being through surgery, just to become a few inches taller. This is where high heels come into play, at least for women.

The author describes the surgical process as very grueling, painful, and requires a very long time to recover. Patients must be very motivated and driven in order to go through such a difficult procedure. Their physical state may never be the same, but they are willing to the big risk. After several surgical procedures, patients must go through a long and difficult recovery process. This affects patients physically and emotionally, which can be very serious. Therefore, increasing height is a procedure that must be considered very carefully due to so many complications.