h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The ads for thise show have just started in Ireland, though I read about in a paper a few months ago. Apparently, they get a bunch of ugly women and give them plastic surgery to make them beautiful, then they all compete in a beauty contest.

Here's the problem - these women are not ugly. They think they are, but they just look ordinary. A couple are even fairly attractive, and I would certainly not mind or feel ashamed of dating any one of them. They appear to have been hypnotised by the mass media into believeing the notion that everybody looks like fashionable, anorexic celebrities, who are about 250cm tall and 2.5cm thin.

This is sickening. Normally I am adverse to the American culture of seeing therapists or lawyers for every single problem, but in this case, I would actually reccomend therapy. The problm these women ave is not physical, it is psychological. However, it seems that when you actually need a therapist, you seek a surgeon.

IMHO, the only time plastic surgery is a reasonable option is if you have suffered a horriffic injury and people are staring at you, making you feel very upset. Birth defects may occasionally elicit the same response, and so plastic surgery is OK here too. However, plastic surgery because you do not look like society says people should ideally look like is totally wrong. God didn't spend billions of years creating us just so that we could go monkeying around with Her ideas.

To be honest, however, it's hard to see whay anyone would want to participate in this show. I have seen pictures of the finished results, and they look so plain, generic, lifeless, sterile even. Given the choice, I would rather date one of these women before the surgery than afterwards. With *The Swan,* reality TV has hit a new low.

Hear, hear .

I saw an advert for this on Living TV, and I also have to agree that these women looked absolutely fine to me - they were simply normal! I also have to agree with your opinion of them afterwards, too. Perhaps some of them may have needed was perhaps a week or so with Trinny and Susannah, to give them a bit of a confidence boost with an up-to-date wardrobe, but surgery? What kind of society are we building, that makes normal women feel so upset and full of self-loathing that they feel their only option is surgery?

I find it no wonder that cases of anorexia and bulimia are on the increase. After watching these shows, I come away feeling fat and ugly too! (I should point out, I'm a UK size 14, and my boyfriend even thinks my greying hair is gorgeous )

I have no idea what a UK size 14 is, but I have an idea that it is quite acceptable. Grey hair can look distinguished and lend an air of maturity.

Last time I checked, I had a 90cm (36in) waist, and I do not feel in the least bit fat. Some of my sister's friends have commented that they have no idea how she can eat so much and stay so thin. (The answer is exercise.)

Personally, I hate Trinny and Susannah, but in this case, they are by far the lesser of two evils.

Good point about anorexia/bulimia. I have felt this for some time, but it slipped my mind when I wrote the above posting.

As long as your clothes fit well, suit you, and your nearest and dearest are happy with you, and you're happy with yourself, why should you change? Perhaps these women need to have lessons in self-acceptance. A UK size 14 is a US Size 10, beyond that I'm stuck!

Also, the differences in what's acceptable between men and women differ widely; while there is increasing pressure on men to look good, they're not vilified if they don't present themselves immaculately. I can't imagine men going for this show, I must say.

Trinny and Susannah are just about preferable to surgery .