Breast implants are everywhere. They're all over TV, all over the beaches, and now all around the high schools. Younger and younger girls are getting breast implants. Do you think that this is ok and that anyone regardless of age (with parental consent) should be allowed to get breast implants, or do you believe there should be a higher age limit regardless of parental consent placed on breast implant surgery? Kind of confusing, but look at alcohol. With or without parental consent, the age limit is 21. Parents cannot override the age limit. Do you think this should be the same for breast implant surgery?

I think 21 makes for a nice cutoff.  At 21, the women should be old enough to responsibly think about the future, and at 21, their breasts are fully grown. Huge boobs have their own set of issues, and I don't think many girls realize that. I'm a C/D cup (depending on the bra), and my back starts hurting after a while, it's hard to find bras, and they're apparently distractions from the brain up north. I don't think girls too young understand what big boobs are all about. On top of the size issue comes the medical risks as well. Going into surgery is scary. Implanting materials that leak out pretty nasty stuff is no good. I don't think implants are worth the risk at all, but if someone's dead set on getting them, I'd make them 21 and up.

21 is ridiculous because having the drinking age be 21 is ridiculous and it's a completely arbitrary and insignificant age to base something on, so basing further things like breast implants on it just because there's already a stupid age limit on alcohol is ridiculous.  breast implants can be removed, i think, and it's not a horribly catastrophic decision, so i'm fine with it being 18 and up.  if the parents approve of it then i don't really think it's too big a deal if it happens when they're 16 or so, either.

people change their minds constantly, especially throughout adolescence, which doesn't just end at 18.  if you're going to say "she could get it at 16 and hate it by 18", what's to stop you from saying "she could get it at 18 and hate it by 20" as a reason why they should have to wait until 20?  there are legitimate reasons relating to self-image why a girl would want breast implants, and while it's unfortunate that a woman would really be made to feel that way about herself over something as petty as TIT SIZE, it unarguably happens!  those types of issues are the very same ones that can snowball pretty quickly into bigger issues, so i don't think it's necessarily a good idea to let them fester for two years just because WELL SHE'S TOO YOUNG SHE MIGHT REGRET IT.

It's not just about regret.  Is it medically safe to have breast implants while the breast is still forming and growing?  Are adolescent views fully developed?  Are adolescents capable of making lasting decisions?  Do adolescents truly understand societal pressure, or is high school pressure a completely different beast?

the part where their breasts are still growing is tricky, but i don't know.  i don't think it's all that rare for a girl to reach whatever size she's going to be at around 16-17.  i wouldn't use that as a basis for legislation, though!  also, if a girl is insecure at 16 because of things like that, what's going to change between 16 and 18?  unless she just suddenly matures into a VOLUPTUOUS WOMAN then the problems are still going to be present; these aren't just things that go away if you ignore them.  and then, i mean, yeah they cost a few grand but the assumption is that if you're considering getting them, you're probably not the kind of family that's hurting for money to begin with.  i think all types of implants (the ones that go in from the bottom, and then the ones that go in from the nipple) leave SOME type of scar, but it's honestly incredibly minimal and the health hazards like having them burst are exceedingly uncommon, i think!

but it's not just about WILL SHE GO CRAZY if she doesn't get them, it's about whether or not it will improve the condition of her mental health and self-image if she gets them.  even if she doesn't go insane without them, the psychological issues a lot of women get implants to combat can become serious problems not too much further down the road, and ultimately i don't think this is something that can just be solved with counseling all the time.  you're not covering up the problem with something cosmetic, because the problem STEMS from something cosmetic.  therefore, a cosmetic fix is probably as close as you'll come to a solution, i think!  ideally people wouldn't need to do this type of thing but i think it's unrealistic to expect everyone to just be like FUCK THE MEDIA IMMMM BEAUTIFUL.

like the op said, this is getting fairly common in certain circles, so even if they'd be mocked in your school, the odds of that happening in any school a person getting this done would be going to are much lower.  having parents pay for cosmetic surgery is nothing new among the upper class, so while it seems ridiculous to you, it's really not.

Is it medically safe to have breast implants while the breast is still forming and growing?  Are adolescent views fully developed?  Are adolescents capable of making lasting decisions?  Do adolescents truly understand societal pressure, or is high school pressure a completely different beast?

The safety of having it done when you're still developing is a good point, but again, I don't think that's universal.  As far as the questions about what adolescents are capable of doing and understanding, do you really think you're much less of an adolescent at 18 or 20 than you are at 16?  You're not.  It's an arbitrary age that we just use as a marker for adulthood, but it's not as if you're suddenly an adult.  I've met very few people below the age of 25 that I'd even really call ADULTS, to be honest, so all the questions you're asking would apply to an 18 or 21 year old as well.

at least 9/10 people in high school are either not free thinkers (aka they try to fit in too hard and you have cliques which don't share the same views anyway) or socially awkward free thinkers who feel left out.

yea youre right that sounds nothing like the real world

Federally mandate that a certified doctor (not the boob-job surgeon) must determine when the girl will stop growing and thus make it safe for her to have the operation. It seems to me that because the age is so arbitrary, the only reason why we chose it is for health reasons -- not exactly for social reasons because the cut-off limit does not necessarily reflect whether or not that particular person is mature enough (although admittedly, if you wanted that surgery you would have to be pretty immature).

Kind of confusing, but look at alcohol. With or without parental consent, the age limit is 21. Parents cannot override the age limit.

Just so you know, that's not true. Parents CAN give you alcohol legally.

Just FYI.

EDIT: Addressing the post below me, I was actually going to say "where I live," but I either forgot or didn't care to. It's cool though.

In others, it's only illegal for a minor to buy alcohol. The ages vary and there's also a distinction between beverages with a low alcohol percentage and strong liquor.

And in some countries it's not illegal for a minor to buy alcohol either; only the seller is responsible.

also i remember a girl in hi school fake boobs as a bday present on her 18th from her parents xD