"Suffering for beauty takes two forms: permanent changes in the physical shape and appearance of the body and its parts, and permanent decoration or mutilation of the body's surface. As cultures look across the chasm of differences that separate them, to each the disfigurement or manipulation of the body practiced by the other seems barbaric. It appears that the more culturally rooted and long-lived the desired result, the more pain the participants are willing to endure. " -Ettagale Blauer

The above paragraph is from the article "Suffering for Beauty's Sake". I agree with this article, that each country has their own views of beauty, and that we judge all the others that are not like us. I also agree that there are two different forms of beauty, and that they both are damaging to the body. Other parts of the article also talk about physical beauty vs. inner beauty, and that physical beauty is beginning to take over. People are starting to get more and more obsessed with changing their natural form, and are "willing to endure" a large amount of pain to get a "beautiful" result. These rituals have become common in many people in the country, because it is the desired look. In Africa, the scarification on the face can also help distinguish who belongs to what tribe.
Another topic in this article is something I had never thought of before. As I had read from previous sources about Chinese foot-binding, I was so disgusted to see these poor women damaging and crippling their feet. In Ettagale Blauer's article, she talks about how we as Americans have also took part in a form of deforming our feet.

"Foot distortions, though less dramatic, also occur in our own culture. In the 1950s, extremely high-heeled pumps, the heels so narrow they were commonly referred to as spikes, became the fashion of the day. The excessive height of the heels, which created an unnaturally rounded arch, forced the weight of the whole body down and forward onto the toes, which were squeezed into pointy-toed narrow vamps. Defying anatomy, the vamps were shaped symmetrically, as if the big toe were in the middle of the foot. Thus compressed, the bones of the toes were squeezed upward, forming bumps and corns; the large joint of the big toe commonly formed a bunion, adding to the pain of wearing these shoes. Thus shod, the woman strode forth, buttocks thrust outward, and knees peculiarly bent, the upper torso out of balance with the lower body, the perfect example of a creature known in the press as a fashion victim. "

I was shocked when I read this because it is completely true! I realized that I am an example of what she is saying about countries being oblivious to their own mutilations. I now see that my own culture has other mutilating ideals of beauty, other then plastic surgery.