John Travolta in Face/Off.

Plastic Surgery Won’t Fix Your Misogyny, Incels

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Getting plastic surgery to help your self-esteem is not a bad thing. Doing it because you think that’s why women won’t date you, rather than your misogyny, is another. A piece in NY Magazine examined an “incel” and his need for plastic surgery to help him with his self-confidence and his dating prospects.

“Incel” is a portmanteau of “involuntary celibate,” a seemingly innocuous description of people who aren’t having sex, but not because they don’t want to. However, the frustration of men in this situation has manifested itself in an online community more accurately described by good old Urban Dictionary:

Incel, “aka ‘involuntarily celibate’, a person (usually male) who has a horrible personality and treats women like sexual objects and thinks his lack of a sex life comes from being ‘ugly’ when its really just his blatant sexism and terrible attitude.”

So … how is plastic surgery going to help you when your personality is so terrible? Truth4lie is the username given to the man who the piece focuses on, and one thing really struck me in particular: his view of women.

“An 8/10 girl works for me since today. I’m going to dominate the hell out of her. Trust me, I’m going to kill her confidence.”

On message boards, Truth4lie talks about how he hates seeing women with children because they “ruined” their bodies to have kids with another man. So, you know, incels are the kinds of guys who are fun at parties. Incels not only hate “Stacies” (attractive women), but they also hate “Chads,” or “alpha” men (who those women supposedly prefer for their looks).

One forum user (who NY Mag says has a Pepe the frog avatar), describes “Chads” as the following:

“praised day and night for their top-tier genetics, making a shit-ton of money, getting insane amounts of validation, never having to worry about paying the rent or any of that bullshit; all they think about is their next football match and coming home and having a threesome with two supermodels, supermodels that puke at the thought of them touching you.”

But while Truth4lie and his friends “hate” the idea of the Chads, they want to be them, hence their obsession with plastic surgery. And here’s my thing: That isn’t going to change your misogynistic frame of mind. If you’re a douchebag, then you’re a douchebag even if you’re hot.

Want to know why some hot guys are still hated? Because of their personalities. If you’re already labeled an “incel” because of how you treat women, just changing your looks isn’t going to help much.

So, obviously, Twitter had a bit of fun with this story because, again, it is a wild time.

Maybe take a deep look at yourself and your misogyny and see why women really won’t date you first.

(via NY Mag, image: Paramount Pictures)

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Rachel Leishman
Assistant Editor
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.