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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1062 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for September 10, 2025

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

  • Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.

  • Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.

  • Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.

  • Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).

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I recently found out about a procedure called Thyroplasty Type III, a type of surgery that relaxes the vocal chords, giving the patient a deeper, raspier voice. I'm not gonna lie, it sounds pretty appealing.

Lifting weights and building muscle to gain confidence and respect seems to be a common way of self-improvement, so why not this?

On one hand, it seems to be a rational choice. Deeper voiced men seem to earn more money and seem to be more sexually desirable.

On the other hand, I'm worried I might be getting too deep into 'looksmaxxing' territory and getting a surgery that shows little actual benefit. Plastic surgery for men also carries a significant stigma, which makes me even more hesistant. It's a shame though, cause cosmetic surgery seems to be one of the few purchases where the pleasure of purchase isn't ruined by the hedonic treadmil.

Most studies seem to show the surgery as being effective for transgender men or cis men with high-pitched voice disorders. There don't seem to be many studies on normal-to-high voiced cis-men however. I've found anecdotal evidence of it working well for them as well, but also evidence of people claiming to have been ripped off.

Someone did an AMA a few months back with a before and after.

TheMotte freaks out at tattoos but is ok with this??

Kinda, yeah? I mean, my first line of advice would still be "just live with it", but OTOH if it works, it works.

Tattoos don't work.

I do not currently have a tattoo, but have considered getting one. What I've considered is the outline of an animal that my wife jokingly refers to as my spirit animal and that has other significance to me. If I got that, it would be on my thigh, in a spot that's only publicly visible in short running shorts. I have no idea what it would even mean for such a tattoo to "not work". Would it fail to appeal to others? Not a goal, at all, I'm old, married, and it wouldn't generally be visible. Would I come to dislike it? Probably not.

In contrast, surgeries like this and other cosmetic choices all seem like a product of neurotic navel-gazing where one becomes deeply insecure about a trait that pretty much no one else notices.

What is the point of a tattoo that is not intended to appeal to others? Do you intend to sit and stare at your own thigh?

I actually do see my own body pretty frequently, yes.

I have no idea what it would even mean for such a tattoo to "not work".

Neither do I. What is the tattoo meant to do for you?

Have a sentimental, slightly ritual appearance that marks a certain time in my life. I would enjoy it (or think I would) for the same reason that I keep various mementos from my life that have no practical use.

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