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Carolina Cepeda
Professor Deborah Weaver
ENC 3315
2 March 2014
Audience/Publish: International Business Times Magazine
Physical Beauty: Choice or Tradition?
Palash Ghoshs article The Death of Monica Spear: Venezuelas Insane And Dangerous
Obsession With Physical Beauty was published by International Business Times Magazine short
after the death of former Miss Venezuela and actress Monica Spear, in which she was left dead
along with her husband, Henry Berry due to an attempted robbery. In his article, Ghosh focuses
on stating that the Venezuelan culture views physical beauty as a priority rather than
highlighting the political, societal, and economical issues that the country has been facing due to
a communist government. However, Ghoshs main claimthe death of a former Miss Venezuela
and actress, has no correlation with a countrys obsession as he would call, with physical
beauty (e.g. plastic surgery).
Ghosh states that behind all the violence, lays a sense of needed perfection in all social
classes and gendersthis is, a reasoning that does not follow the context because after all
violence and physical beauty have no correlation with each other whatsoever, and it certainly
has absolutely no association with the death of a former beauty queen. Violence in Venezuela is
due to the lack of economic resources that have led the people in need to make decisions like
kidnapping, robbing, and even killing in order to have some type of satisfaction or even survival,
as horrific as it might sound. According to In Sight Crime, Venezuelas homicides have reached
high numbers, especially in 2013. From January 1st until April 25th, over 6,675 homicide-related
murders were registered.

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Furthermore, Physical beauty has become a portrayal of magazines and social media, where the
skinnier ones are the ones exposed in the front cover, being considered as the most beautiful
ones. This representation has led an increase of plastic surgery, as well as making them far more
common than usual. However, there is no relationship when it comes to associating plastic
surgery with violence.
Ghosh states that the obsession Venezuelans in general have with physical appearances,
which includes especially going under the knife for cosmetic surgery is very widespread,
categorizing a whole country into one classification.
Venezuelan girls will do anything including placing their families into debt to improve
their looks, Ghosh attributes to false causes and appeals to prejudice as well, by stating that all
women that face surgery have to be placed in an economic debt. Not all surgeries might be
because they want to improve physical appearance, but it can also involve health issues as well.
Furthermore, not all Venezuelan girls will do anything to improve looks, this term is too broad
and does not explain a clear argument.
Venezuela stages literally thousands of beauty pageants of varying sizes and prizes
every year, even inside the nations dangerously overcrowded prisons. There is no written
proof throughout the article that there are thousands of pageants, and specifically at thronged
prisons. By this, Ghosh is simply jumping to a conclusion -- just because there are thousands of
pageants each year, it does not mean it has to go to the extreme, like having pageants at
prisons. Intrigued by this statement, and with the lack of detail Ghosh provides about it, I
wanted to investigate where the claim came from. After conducting some research, there was
no piece of information that I was able to find in order to support the pageants in prisons
statement.

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According to Jorge Benezra, a Time Life Box journalist, Venezuelan prison conditions and
abuses in Venezuelas prisons faced intimidation and threats of violence; conditions have not
improved since Chavezs death. Benezras claim, a journalist who visited several prisons in
Venezuela, was captivated by the dreadful conditions the prisoners lived by. Ghosh states a
very serious claim by expressing his statement, so he would have to provide further information
to support it, which prison has had a pageant? Where? When? How?
Practically all of Venezuelas beauty queens have European physical features- later
on, Ghosh states that the women that win the pageants do not represent the Venezuelan
physical race, which is mestizos, or mixed race. Truth is, the Venezuelan race is very mixed,
having descendants from all over Europe, including Spain, Italy, and even Russia. Mestizos is a
combination of the Natives, usually with Indian-Native American features in the country with
the Europeans that migrated to Venezuela. However, other migrations have happened
throughout the years, not making the mestizos race the only race that classifies Venezuelans.
Yes, we are a very mixed race, but it does not mean we all have to change our looks to look
more Europeanwhat classifies an European trait anyways? Blue eyes? Blonde hair? His
terms are too vague to understand a clear statement and where he wants to go with it.
According to Ghosh, the usual Venezuelan beauty queen has an European physical trait, yet, it
does not mean they all look like that. Also, because they might have those features, it does not
mean thats the reason they win, or the reason why Venezuelans are infatuated with physical
beauty.
Later during the article, Ghosh titles one of his arguments sections: Economic Crisis?
What Crisis? he first explains the economic crisis due to inflation and lack of necessity goods,
like toilet paper and milk. However, he states, has apparently not put a damper on peoples
insatiable appetites for nose jobs, breast implants, and other cosmetic servicesthe lack of

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necessities does not correlate with wanting to have a nose job or breast implants, which
includes the fallacy of false cause; just because there is a shortage, it does not mean people
have - or do not have to go through surgery. In the end, the decision might be his or hers, and if
they can afford it, the lack of toilet paper will not influence his or her nose job.
As the article is about to conclude, Ghosh continues stating how the Venezuelan women
[and men] are passionate with physical beauty, but has not related it to what is believed to be,
based on his title- his main point, which was the death of Monica Spear. As he finally mentions
her again, he finishes his article by stating And now, that perfect woman is dead. By that
statement, Ghosh attributes to false causes by categorizing Spear as what a country like
Venezuela would classify as perfect. How does her death influence Venezuelas obsession
with physical beauty? As far as I know, her death was due to a robbery, not due to cosmetic
surgery.
As a Venezuelan myself, I found the article to be biased, against the culture and beliefs
of a country being categorized as very superficial. Ghosh did not support his statements clearly,
making it uneasy to understand and follow. Not all the women and men are worried about their
physical appearance, and certainly not everyone in the country is passionate with going under
surgery to improve it. Based on this article, Ghosh seems to be lacking much information, just
gathering material that seemed more relevant to associate an unfortunate death of a former
Miss Venezuela into a stereotypical remark.

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Palash Ghosh, . N.p.. Web. 21 Feb 2014. <http://www.ibtimes.com/death-monica-spearvenezuelas-insane-dangerous-obsession-physical-beauty-1536692>.

Wells, Miriam. "Venezuelan Homicides Reach Record High In 2013." In Sight Crime: Organized
Crime in The Americas. (2013): n. page. Web. 1 Mar. 2014. <http://www.insightcrime.org/newsbriefs/venezuelan-homicides-reach-record-high-in-2013>.
Benezra, Jorge. "On the Inside: Venezuela's Most Dangerous Prison." Time Light Box. (2013): n.
page. Web. 1 Mar. 2014. <http://lightbox.time.com/2013/06/06/on-the-inside-venezuelasmost-dangerous-prison/