The Upside of Vanity

“Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” While no book has been more widely debated than the Bible, no one is confused about this quote's meaning. It's a warning. Vanity is the physical manifestation of pride, one of the seven deadly sins. Actions done out of pride are dangerously inconsequential.

Meanwhile, Brazil, a country with a 90 percent Christian population, has become the international cosmetic surgery capital. Leading surgeons and third-world pricing have created a sinful explosion in the plastic surgery field. For decades, Brazilians have been clamoring for better bodies, and the country's doctors have responded by developing cutting-edge techniques, pardon the pun, that lead the world in the reconstruction imagination. Today, the way people are re-shaping their physical form is anything but inconsequential.

First and foremost is the body waxing phenomenon, which has now spread to the US. Also, it's rare to see Brazilian women with gray hair. Nutritionists provide a spreadsheet with dietary cells for each meal, while the same white-coated nutritionists do Botox injections that many women use on their hair. An office building in Curitiba has a salon in the lobby called “Sobrancelhas Design.” Sobrancelhas are eyebrows, and that's all they handle, by appointment only.

Spandex outfits match their manicure color in Pilates classes, along with full make-up and high heels in the supermarket on a Sunday morning. I met three women in their early twenties who were best friends and decided to go for breast implants together, hoping for a group discount. When the doctor agreed, they made their appointments.

Self-objectification has become a hobby for women here. There's nothing contradictory about having an “I love Jesus” tattoo resting atop silicone implants. A slang greeting on the street is “beleza,” which technically means beauty. The legal title for Laurel and Hardy movies is “The Fat and the Skinny.”

The focus on vanity isn't restricted to women. When a teen, male or female, develops an everyday case of acne, the parents rush the child to a dermatologist and nutritionist for extensive treatments. There is the fear that acne scars ruin lives. Alvaro Jarrín, author of the book The Biopolitics of Beauty: Cosmetic Citizenship and Affective Capital in Brazil, traces the origins of the national apprehension to Brazilian eugenics. “The popular saying 'There are no ugly people, only poor people' implies that no one is ugly by choice.”

Is there a link between endemic cosmetic surgery, primarily female, and Brazil's first place ranking for marital infidelity? The practicality of Brazilian vanity lies in the everyday reality that heterosexual women want to share their lives with husbands and find supportive fathers for their kids. As the remnants of generations of ultra-masculine behavior still linger, women need their warpaint. Too many men don't make suitable husbands/fathers, unwilling to share domestic duties and childrearing; the competition is fierce for suitable men.

Having been bypassed by the feminist movement of the 1970s, thanks in large part to the military government at that time, Brazilian women are today getting their first exposure to the #MeToo movement. While few Brazilian women would argue with the principles of “No Means No” or “Equal Pay for Equal Work,” the reality doesn't always match the rhetoric.

Original sin is a fundamental tenet of Christianity. In a country that offers saints' days as federal holidays, one would presume sin is taken seriously. Not true with the sin of pride. Brazilians are proud of their new-found, middle-class status and unafraid to exhibit the spoils, whether it's car ownership or the means to purchase American brands like Apple and Levis that cost twice the US price because of Brazil's steep import taxes.

For Brazilians vanity is not a sin. In fact, it has a completely different meaning. It's not only a woman's greatest ally in the competition for men, but it's a symbol of self-confidence and self-esteem. Vanity, whether it comes through silicone enhancement, botox injections, or weekly visits to the nail salon, is a sign that a woman has the time and financial means to care for her appearance. Vanity has a purely positive connotation in Portuguese nomenclature (vaidade).

Women in Brazil equate taking care of their appearance with taking care of themselves, no different from hiring a personal trainer at the gym. Strength and fitness training is not only healthy but it alters physical appearance. Can a young woman afford to wait years as her biological clock is ticking while men learn that beauty is only skin deep? Vanity is a tool to attracting and holding on to your man.

The long and short of it is appearance matters, and it's not just with Brazilian women. While intellectuals scoff at vanity, like the trend for butt injections or the Miss Bum Bum contest for the best ass in Brazil, people are judged in every country by their appearance. Would you wear shorts and flip-flops to a job interview? Is it a coincidence that the average height for US presidents has been 5'11” while the US average is 5'9”?

What's different about Brazilians is they talk about the elephant in the room. Since appearance matters, the people who acknowledge this and attempt to maintain a healthy mien are pragmatists, not egotists. Hence, vaidade has no negative connotations whatsoever.

Physical presentation is an effective tool whether it's the human body or product packaging. Women dress up to go to the doctor because it elevates their status, for the same reason billionaires get better restaurant seating than the rest of us. In any situation where appearance is tied to status, people will rise to the occasion. In shopping malls, if a woman has spent hours accumulating packages from various stores, she wouldn't think to put one of her smaller bags inside a larger one to make it easier to carry. She holds all the bags separately, displaying the store names on each bag. On the outside of a professional building, the names of the doctors/dentists will be attached in metallic letters to the front of the building. Women who can afford beach vacations wear strapless blouses when they return to work to display their tan lines, a status symbol. There's even a word for the lines – marquinhas.

Additionally, there are numerous tasteful ways to enhance appearance. The use of lingerie began in Brazil long before Victoria's Secret invited the issue to the forefront. Similarly, white lab coats with emblazoned names and titles in script over the breast pocket are used by all types of technicians from the young women working as receptionists in the dentist's office to massage therapists. The appearance of uniforms and name tags instill trust.

Sadly, many women have discovered cosmetic surgery, like tattooing or body building, is addictive. Cesarean births proliferate in Brazil, often because women think a normal birth will deform their bodies and force vaginal rejuvenation surgery. To be fair, other factors push Brazilian women away from normal births, such as the advice of their mothers, or doctors who want to schedule a C-section at a convenient time.

In Portuguese there is verb with several translations, aproveitar, which can mean to enjoy or benefit from. It's a word used frequently in advertising: “Enjoy our big sale” or “Benefit from our wide color selection.” We can surmise that this beach-loving country both enjoys and benefits from their devotion to presentation.