Dear Domai

In the past week I saw two movies that made me reflect quite a bit on the DOMAI philosophy. The first was Sin City, an entertaining and stylistic film based on the graphic novel of the same name that includes a cast of many beautiful women, though it is rather disturbingly violent. The second was Slackers, a generic comedy about college-aged troublemakers. The thing that tied these two films together - and frankly, the major motivator for me to actually sit through much of the second - was an actress who appeared in both films. That actress was Jaime King.

In Sin City, Ms. King is appropriately cast as a beautiful woman whose murder triggers the first major plotline of the film. She later makes an appearance as the murdered woman's twin sister. She appears topless in the film in a love scene with Mickey Rourke, baring large, clearly augmented breasts. I am not a fan of augmentation, but in my opinion one cannot question the beauty of this young woman, and her physique matched the surreal and fantastic style of the film perfectly.

As for the second film, I came across Slackers while channel surfing, and noticed a particularly beautiful young woman. While the movie did not feature nudity (it was on cable), it did include several scenes in which the actress stripped down to her underwear. She had an amazingly lithe and athletic build. While her breasts were not large (the movie included a joke about their small size), they were shapely and fit her build perfectly. I proceeded to watch much of the film, admiring her, and watched the credits to find out who she was. When the credits scrolled through, I realized that she was the very same actress I had seen earlier in the week in Sin City.

When I realized that it was the same woman in both films, I became rather upset. I was a bit surprised by this reaction as, while I am not an advocate of plastic surgery, I am not vehemently opposed to it. However, when I realized that this incredibly beautiful woman - among the most beautiful I've seen - had sought to alter her body to gain greater acceptance and success as an actress, it broke my heart. It worries me greatly that such a woman would feel pressured to seek augmentation. What does it say about our society if even a very beautiful woman is not content with her body in its natural state?

I do appreciate that in some circumstances cosmetic surgery can elevate a person's confidence level to a point where they feel comfortable truly being themselves and can thus live a fuller life, and for that reason I am not opposed to it outright. But I would prefer people to find that comfort through themselves rather than surgery. When someone who is by all accounts beautiful seeks to change her appearance, I can't help but be concerned about our future generations of young women, and young men as well, who receive constant messages that they need to seek artificial physical alteration to be beautiful.

Thank you for your continued support of natural beauty. It is a welcome message in this otherwise clouded time.

Yours, Greg C