When T.I. went to Tanzania to perform at the Serengeti Fiesta a few weeks ago, it seems his wife Tiny Cottle Harris used the trip to pick up a couple souvenirs…namely, a pair of newly colored eyeballs. Ok, well, the eyeballs aren’t new, but Tiny did get “ice-grey” colored silicone inserts implanted in her eyes to permanently change their natural brown color.
And after sparking a firestorm of backlash on social media, the reality star and singer went on national tv to explain the procedure, defended her decision, and relayed her husband T.I.’s reaction.

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Tiny told Deborah Roberts on Good Morning America:
“They go into the eye and they make a little slit. They take an implant and it’s folded up. They open it [and] spread it over your eye…
I looked in the mirror and I was like…they’re amazing!
I just wanted to do something different, and I have the right to do that. It’s my body.”

And while T.I. was initially skeptical, Tiny claims that her husband now loves them. The same can not be said for so many outraged folks online who are accusing Tiny of self-hatred, self-racism, body dysmorphia, low self-esteem, bad parenting, insanity, and every other possible crime against humanity.

But clearly, this is a visceral reaction that Tiny has been subject to for years as a singer who didn’t quite fit the typical 90’s girl group mold, and as the wife of a very high-profile and reasonably handsome rap star. Personally, I’ve always been fascinated by Tiny, my favorite Xscape member (with Kandi Burruss as a close 2nd). There is nothing about her personal style that I can relate to…her loud, tight, clothes, often with rhinestones and writing on them, her random and oversized tattoos, big crispy hairstyles, enhanced lips, breasts and butt…but I like her unaffected sense of humor and the fact that she seems very happy being herself, no matter how that “self” has changed shape over the years.
If it were true that Tiny “hates” her God-given features, and was caving into the pressures of “white beauty”…then wouldn’t she have gotten the Hollywood pre-requisite nose job long ago (before the new butt, boobs and lips)? She’s still on her first nose, while out in LA, the Kardashians haven’t seen their original Armenian cartilage since the 90’s.

I’m not saying that I think Tiny’s BrightOcular eye implants are a good idea, or even good looking. The creepy near-white irises make her look like a goth vampire from The Strain. And the fact that the procedure is illegal in the U.S., and that a similar implant in Panama caused blindness makes being an early adopter on BrightOcular borderline stupid. But she probably hated wearing colored contacts…and I understand why. On a trip to Tokyo, I noticed that every trendy girl in every shop and restaurant had these huge dilated pupils, some in very unnatural colors. They looked like doll eyes, which almost no white showing. All because of these special non-prescription contact lenses that you could buy everywhere…so, of course, I bought a couple pairs and wore them like some IRL anime character.

Silly but so fun. Until your eyes start tearing up and itching about 20 minutes later, and you rush home to pop them out. Would I get permanent implants? Hell no! But I have gotten lasik, which slices your eye to enhance vision. And I’m not morally opposed to cosmetic medicine to counteract aging. I’m just not big on adding new parts (boobs, butt injections, horns, calf-muscles), only taking things away (boob reductions, back fat, 3rd and 4th chins, hairy moles, snaggleteeth). Body modification is nothing new, but with the instagram’s promotional platform (and tyranny of “like” accumulation) it’s hard to miss all of the ways girls are “enhancing” or completely changing their looks… There all the waist-trainers or fahas, which are just glorified girdles and corsets that women are now wearing for 8 or more hours at a time, while working out, while sleeping all because they think it will either cause them to “melt fat” only in the waist…or re-shape their midsection into a permanent hourglass. This corseted woman is getting fame for her 16-inch waist. Gucci Mane’s girlfriend Keyshia Dior sells her “waist erasers” online.

A video posted by Keyshia Ka’oir (@keyshiakaoir) on Oct 10, 2014 at 1:04pm PDT

There’s evidence of butt injections from the biggest female rap stars to the regular woman you see at the club. Meanwhile, men are modifying their hairlines with reckless Bigen hair dye abuse.

And even the most low-maintenance chicks are getting addicted to the luxury of bi-weekly eyelash extensions.
Hey…if you always had a lopsided nose and you don’t want it to define your face, fix it. Or if you had kids and want to get a tummy tuck, and you have the money to do it safely, then why not. Wanting to change things doesn’t automatically mean that you hate who you are. The bigger problem to me is when you can’t see when you’re beautiful and how often it has nothing to do with your waist-to-hip ratio, the price of your bag, or the dip of your eyebrows.