All Aboard The Bandwagon

How to get ahead in advertising... by glamourizing irreversible surgeries

Yet another company has jumped on the bandwagon of advertising its wares by normalising so-called ‘top surgery’ in young trans-identified women.

A current advertisement for shaving company, Braun, features a trans-identified female looking in a mirror while using the Braun Series X Hybrid Trimmers.

Of course, the facial hair she’s shaving is a result of taking cross-sex hormones. This medication has been linked to increased risks of cancer, stroke and heart attack, can cause early menopause and infertility and, as Transgender Trend has reported, many ‘transmen’ experienced severe pain during sexual activity once after taking testosterone.

The model’s double mastectomy scars are clearly visible. Presumably, she’s had her healthy breasts surgically removed.

According to The Telegraph, this ad may have fallen foul of Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). Its guidance warns against commercials ‘glamourizing’ or ‘trivializing’ cosmetic surgery. The social responsibility section of the ASA’s website states, “Marketers should take care not to trivialize the decision to have cosmetic surgery… “Procedures should always be portrayed as something that requires time and thought and should never be portrayed as ‘safe’, ‘easy’ or ‘risk free.’”

Similarly, a section headed ‘Body Image’ advises that, “Advertisers should ensure that they don’t portray particular body types in an irresponsible manner, imply people can only be happy if they look a certain way, or present an unhealthy body image as aspirational”.

Of course, Braun is only the latest corporate giant to try cashing in on the current gender vogue by normalising the surgical removal of healthy breasts from vulnerable young women. Only last month, Costa Coffee was in the news over a picture on one of its vehicles.

A cartoon illustration on a UK Costa Express mobile outlet depicted a young trans-identified woman with double mastectomy scars, posing on a surf board with a cup of takeaway coffee.

Around the same time, Dr Martens USA was advertising a customized pair of boots ‘inspired by the queer community’ which features a trans-identified female, again with double mastectomy scars.

In June we reported on a video released by Oxfam for Pride Month which included a very young ‘trans man’ with mastectomy scars.

US-based razor manufacturer, Harry’s, has advertised its products using a trans-identified female model with mastectomy scars.

Last year publishing giant, Penguin, released ‘Bodies Are Cool’. The book is specifically aimed at pre-school children and yet depicts trans-identified females with double mastectomy scars on its cover.

Similarly, in June, Hatchette published ‘You Grow Girl!’, a book about puberty aimed at girls aged 9+ which features a female wearing a breast binder on its cover.

These organisations are collaborating in a medical scandal which is encouraging vulnerable young girls to have unnecessary, traumatic and irreversible surgery.

A decade ago there were just under 250 referrals to the NHS child gender clinic, GIDS, most of which were boys. According to a study commissioned by NHS England, last year there were more than 5,000 referrals to GIDS, around two thirds of which were girls. The Cass Review noted the huge increase in adolescent girls now seeking treatment from GIDS. “The largest group currently comprises birth-registered females first presenting in adolescence with gender-related distress”.

Indeed, this issue was being discussed over four years ago and deemed a serious cause for concern even then.

Courageous de-transitioner, Sinead Watson, addressed this issue in the Daily Mail. “When is the madness going to stop?”, she asked. “I'm talking about the latest attempt to pretend it's normal for young women like me to have our healthy breasts surgically removed.”

Sinead went on to describe the devastating affect of her own double mastectomy. “My chest displays two angry red wealds under where my breasts were and two slightly smaller scars under my ribcage. I have ugly creased skin under my armpits where the flesh has been pulled. That's the brutal, unvarnished truth. My entire chest is totally numb with zero sensation… I will never be able to breastfeed… What terrifies me most is that other girls, just like me, are being propelled down this same route. It really has reached a terrifying point when a mainstream coffee chain thinks this is a bandwagon it has to jump on.”

Speaking to Julia-Hartley Brewer on Talk TV about the latest Braun advert, James Esses summed up the horror of this trend. “It acts as a glorification of this type of surgical procedure… But this isn’t some harmless fad. This is the irreversible removal of healthy parts of a woman's body for a mental health condition”.