Thursday thoughts #2: to botox or not to botox?
Thursday thoughts are meant to be my regular musings on a particular topic, something I’m thinking about, or just a stream of consciousness that I feel comfortable letting out into the world. Since these tend to be a bit more personal, the full posts will only be available for paid subscribers.
I know the world is an ongoing disaster and the fact that I’m talking about Botox may seem trivial, and it completely is. We all need some form of escapism; I know I certainly do right now. I also think this is a fairly common question among women, and something I talk about with friends all the time. Plus, it was either Botox or the whole “to have kids or not to have kids” topic and the former felt a bit lighter (lol).
Anyways, I live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I’m 42. I am in an extreme minority of women my age in the area who have never had Botox. That’s probably one of the reasons I think about it often enough to spur this post. Call it external noise/stimuli, if you will. I always appreciate the well-known women who are outspoken about “aging gracefully” and not getting work done, injectables, etc. Andie MacDowell comes to mind here, and I think she looks great. I also appreciate the women who are honest about the work they’ve had done, and why (Arielle Lorre comes to mind here). I can’t stand judgement on either side - women have enough challenges these days, and we shouldn’t be judged on decisions about how we want our faces to look as we age (goddammit).
The conundrum (and the patriarchy)
Liz Moody mentioned being conflicted between wanting to look a certain way and not giving in to societal beauty standards when talking about Botox and plastic surgery on her podcast recently, and I feel exactly the same way.