And you thought Britain was full of false tits?

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CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez railed against a new trend in beauty-conscious Venezuela, giving girls breast implants for their 15th birthday.

“Now some people think, ‘My daughter’s turning 15, let’s give her breast enlargements.’ That’s horrible. It’s the ultimate degeneration,” Chavez said late on Sunday on his weekly TV show that lasted a record eight hours.

Venezuela is well known for its beauty queens, who have regularly won world crowns, and many women have plastic surgery in the oil-rich country where there is widespread spending on consumer items that would be considered luxuries elsewhere.

But Chavez, the anti-U.S., self-styled revolutionary who came to office in 1999, is seeking to change those attitudes to create what he calls the “new man” to build a socialist society in this South American nation.

Chavez complained about the new fad of giving the plastic surgery operation at 15 – when Latin Americans celebrate a girl’s coming-of-age – during a diatribe against what he says are Western-imposed consumerist icons such as Barbie dolls.

While breast implants are advertised on TV and banks offer special credit lines for such operations, if girls do get the enlargements they are not expected to become sexually active afterward.

Venezuelans’ have a habit of avid consumerism since the 1970s oil boom in the OPEC nation. They have won the nickname of the “Give-Me-Twos” in the tourist destination of Florida for buying double the amount of typical consumers.

Breast implants cost thousands of dollars in Venezuela.

Chavez’s answer? He has told his supporters to give away any extra goods they do not need, urging them to leave out in town squares items such as fans or refrigerators.

“I am calling on your conscience, fathers of this country, mothers of this country, they are our sons, they are our daughters,” Chavez said.

Still, Chavez, who happily describes himself as ugly, may struggle to change Venezuelans’ mind-set to spending on plastic surgery.

In elevators, at huge, jam-packed shopping malls, women can be overheard openly boasting about their recent, conspicuous operations.

:cuckoo:

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At least he is trying to do the right thing. 15 is much too early for such things. Maybe somewhere in the 20s if someone is determined to follow the course of implants, at least after full adult development has been reached.

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I’m with you on that Egad. But I suspect - and I’m open to correction on this mate, what Walter is commenting on is the concept of the society as described by that Prez. as he see’s it. I mean, 8 hours on TV? Young ladies chests? These are the things on the guys mind? There’s an ebb and flow in politics, it seems to me, and democracy, tho’ chaotic, does seem to get there in the end - tho’ when beats me :slight_smile:

I see what Chavez wants - but heck, brute force of ‘personal opinion’ seems naive to me.

Regards, Bugslug

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Well, i posted to point out the insanity of parental input into such an operation, combined with a totally ridiculous sociological pressure to conform, and also a society that is so wastful as to be able to afford such things.

In my title I was also lampooning the British ‘celeb’ culture which is so ‘false’, and populated by ‘tits’.

Personally, I applaud Chavez’ stand on this, but as Wheelie says, an 8 hour rant about 15 years olds chests? I can imagine that would have destroyed even Teflon Blair!

:Edited cos I seem to have lost the ability to spell correctly!

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Kids get enough pressure to act older than they really are as it is without turning them in Pamela Anderson lookalikes at the first opportunity.

If, as a result of whatever means he uses, a few more children get to grow up at their own pace I think it was a mission worth starting.

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The problem is that the pressure to be more “side profile impressive” is rampant in many countries (U.S. included), and more needs to be done by both parents and society as a whole to accept natural beauty and to teach young girls that it’s okay to let nature take it’s course. Venezuelan society is certainly off the deep end in this regard, but ours is really no better. We just address it differently.