Looks are the new feminism, an activism of aesthetics

For wanting a shot at being beautiful, Americans spent $9.4 billion on cosmetic surgery – the 2005 records of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reveal.

We guessed it right, the trend shows no indications of reversing.

This is the big trend – at least according a new book "Beauty Junkies: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession With Cosmetic Surgery," which contains facts and figures, and ‘why and hows’ of today's culture of cosmetic enhancement.

No immune to the pull, author Alex Kuczynski admits to an addiction to cosmetic enhancement that starts with Botox® and progresses to liposuction and an unfortunate lip-filling incident that causes her to miss a good friend’s memorial.

And then she proceeds to delve and poke on the America's addictions for nips and tucks, or aptyly calls it 'cosmetic-surgery complex'.

More notably, the author brings to light what fuels the plastic surgery industry, succinctly saying:

"Looks are the new feminism, an activism of aesthetics."

Much interesting are the portions where Kuczynski writes about the players in the plastic-surgery world -- the people are inside it who are either selling physical perfection or buying it.

Watch out for your frowns and laugh lines as the book exposes the hucksters and snake-oil sellers in this billion-dollar beauty business.