[Rick1]

> What is "aesthetically pleasing" to random strangers according to some survey is of little importance.

It's extremely important to most people. We go out of our way to look good. Just look at any shopping street. Clothes, makeup, gyms, etc.

[DoreenMichele]

For most people who aren't, say, professional models or actresses, what your bare breasts look like is something only a relatively small number of people are likely to know from first-hand experience.

It's important to be socially acceptable in public with how you look. But what your breasts look like when you are naked is really not important to your social life per se.

Someone I knew who chose to not have reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy once said about a mutual acquaintance who had a lot of cosmetic surgery for various reasons "She is covered in scars and only looks good in her clothes." The unstated subtext there being "I also look good in my clothes, even though I only have one breast."

If your life partner is okay with it and you are okay with it, the rest of the world can butt out. It's a more complicated question for a relatively young single woman who needs to wonder about future potential romantic partners.

I was quite plump at one time. There are men who like it like that and I have been fortunate to know such men.

At the time, I was getting a lot of ugly feedback from "random internet strangers" about how desperately important it is for a woman to be thin.

That experience informs my opinion that "What random internet strangers think about your naked body is of little consequence compared to actual intimate partners in your life."

FWIW and all that.

[wolverine876]

> It's extremely important to most people. We go out of our way to look good. Just look at any shopping street. Clothes, makeup, gyms, etc.

It's a continuum, and I don't think it's 'extremely important' to many people at all in my experience.

Far more people are not shopping and don't go to gyms, and shopping and gyms serve other purposes too. Also, when someone does those things to enhance appearance it doesn't mean it's 'extremely important' to them; I watched a sporting event over the weekend, went grocery shopping, and I post on HN, but none of those tings are extremely important or even important to me (beyond avoiding starvation).

It's not binary; humans cover a very wide range - much wider than you or I experience or imagine.

[parineum]

The goal of not caring what other people think about your physical appearance is noble but naive and I'm not even really certain it's ideal.

It's definitely something that people say in situations like this but if you'd ask literally anybody who's had a mastectomy if they could keep their breasts looking exactly the same before surgery as they did before, I guarantee that nearly all of them would want that.

I think it's much more important to help people be confident in themselves with their new appearance than it is to tell them they are just the same as they were before. I think it's misguided to try and convince people that they didn't lose something.