[NYTr] Chavez Blasts Sexist Fad of Giving "Breast Implants for 15th Birthday"

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Reuters - Sep 24, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN2425004220070924


Chavez rails at teenage breast implants gift fad

By Saul Hudson

CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez railed against a new trend in
beauty-conscious Venezuela, giving girls breast implants for their 15th
birthday.

"Now some people think, 'My daughter's turning 15, let's give her
breast enlargements.' That's horrible. It's the ultimate degeneration,"
Chavez said late on Sunday on his weekly TV show that lasted a record
eight hours.

Venezuela is well known for its beauty queens, who have regularly won
world crowns, and many women have plastic surgery in the oil-rich
country where there is widespread spending on consumer items that would
be considered luxuries elsewhere.

But Chavez, the anti-U.S., self-styled revolutionary who came to office
in 1999, is seeking to change those attitudes to create what he calls
the "new man" to build a socialist society in this South American
nation.

Chavez complained about the new fad of giving the plastic surgery
operation at 15 -- when Latin Americans celebrate a girl's
coming-of-age -- during a diatribe against what he says are
Western-imposed consumerist icons such as Barbie dolls.

While breast implants are advertised on TV and banks offer special
credit lines for such operations, if girls do get the enlargements they
are not expected to become sexually active afterward.

Venezuelans' have a habit of avid consumerism since the 1970s oil boom
in the OPEC nation. They have won the nickname of the "Give-Me-Twos" in
the tourist destination of Florida for buying double the amount of
typical consumers.

Breast implants cost thousands of dollars in Venezuela.

Chavez's answer? He has told his supporters to give away any extra
goods they do not need, urging them to leave out in town squares items
such as fans or refrigerators.

"I am calling on your conscience, fathers of this country, mothers of
this country, they are our sons, they are our daughters," Chavez said.

Still, Chavez, who happily describes himself as ugly, may struggle to
change Venezuelans' mind-set to spending on plastic surgery.

In elevators, at huge, jam-packed shopping malls, women can be
overheard openly boasting about their recent, conspicuous operations.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Rondon)