Alyssa Milano says she removed her breast implants to shed “false narratives” and reclaim her “authentic self.” You might laugh at this statement, maybe even think it’s narcissistic. But it isn’t. Please hear me out. She says: “Today I’m releasing those false narratives, the parts of me that were never actually parts of me. I’m letting go of the body that was sexualized, that was abused, that I believed was necessary for me to be attractive; to be loved; to be successful; to be happy. Today, I’m my authentic self. Today, I’m free.” You know what? Good for her. This is positive, and she should be applauded for it. I don’t care that she’s said insane things about Trump or lost her mind during COVID. What she’s doing here, saying here, actually makes sense. It’s courageous, and it isn’t a rejection of femininity or beauty, either. It isn’t ugly. It isn’t woke. It’s not just personal. It’s a rejection of an industry that runs on manufactured insecurity. Hollywood sells women the story that their bodies are never enough. The beauty and cosmetic surgery industries feed on this—first by creating the standard, then by profiting from every attempt to meet it. It creates a pressure that requires every woman to comply whether they know it or not. The incentives are clear: the more women believe they’re inadequate, the more money there is to be made off upgrades, filters, implants, injections, and endless products. Each “fix” generates new dependencies, new upkeep costs, new revenue streams. The result is a cycle where the individual never wins. The market always does. And the damage it does to women is difficult to comprehend. It makes women feel inadequate, even hate themselves. It makes some go all in with plastic surgery, and others feel compelled to reject it by making themselves deliberately ugly. The woke rejection of beauty is a reactionary reflex that compels women into covering their bodies in piercings and tattoos and giving themselves ugly feminist haircuts. But just like the system they’re reacting to, it too is artificial. A manufactured look that says “look at me, I’m part of the counterculture.” It is inauthentic. Alyssa Milano breaking with that is significant. This isn’t like losing weight after indulgence. It’s refusing to keep paying into a system that tells you to manufacture your value. She subtracted instead of added, and by doing so, she exposed the con: you don’t need the apparatus to be whole. That’s the point. Authenticity is subtraction. It’s cutting through the noise of an industry designed to turn people into products. Milano’s decision is one woman walking away from a racket that thrives on keeping women at war with themselves. And it’s a reminder: the only freedom on offer is the kind you take back for yourself.