Gender Math

Since the creation story of the Judeo-Christian tradition, cultures, especially American culture, have portrayed women as being men who are missing something essential. Since the formation of the first woman from the rib from the first man, societies have viewed women as subtractions; men minus physical and mental capabilities. This pervasive idea has instilled women with psychological damage in the form of lowered self-esteem and therefore the need to strive for completion. Technology from makeup to cosmetic surgery provides women with the ability to assuage their anxieties. In this way, we are encouraged to become cyborgs, beings with both natural, biological parts and synthetic ones. Yet because women are born incomplete, is it unnatural to want to be whole? This question is at the heart of the cosmetic surgery debate.
     The missing piece is vaguely defined, yet clear to those who purportedly suffer from its absence. Men are expected to use their natural abilities, which include confidence and assertiveness, to achieve the American dream, yet women are not. One can only assume that our society does not believe in women’s natural talents. These traits are not as cultivated and are essentially turned off and left off. In this way, technology takes on the function of an “on switch” for us, affording women the same abilities as men. In “Accounting for Cosmetic Surgery: The Accomplishment of Gender,” Diane Dull and Candace West describe surgeons’ criteria for a good surgery candidate as “those who think surgery will increase their self-esteem and improve their self-image, not those who think it will help them attract a younger lover or maintain their spouse’s attention (61).” But is it not unreasonable to think that one will lead to another, that a patient could believe that increased self-esteem will enable her to attract a younger lover? The article goes on to include those who “seek surgery in order to meet the requirements of their job (61),” referring specifically to those whose livelihood depends on their appearance. Whether it is for catching a spouse’s eye or getting ahead in the workplace, the surgical technology is an artificial means to increase one’s confidence for those who do not need it.
Who would not want to increase their self-esteem through whatever means available? Cosmetic procedures are accessible to both men and women, so how can one claim that they are gendered? Society cultivates women’s insecurities by accepting and not refuting her concerns. America is able to acknowledge this, yet do nothing to change it. This mentality is apparent in the Dull and West article, where interviews revealed that “Surgeons were united in the view that women’s concerns for their appearance are essential to their nature as women (64).” It is perfectly normal, though not “biologically ordained” because “she is a product of our society and how she was brought up (64).” These surgeons are claiming that women’s anxieties are natural, but not in the sense that they are born with them. They imply that women have been instilled with these concerns and taking action to alleviate them is to alter themselves, not society. Men, however, have a different problem. They are left to struggle with their anxieties, as society invalidates them and ignores them. To be insecure is to be a subtraction, to be man minus ability, which is the definition of woman. The surgeons note that “men are taught ‘to deal with little defects here and there’ and that therefore ‘they don’t have the psychological investment in it that women do’ (64).” This is further evidence of America’s complacent attitude toward and acceptance of women’s nervous conditions. Instead of a lasting solution that would eliminate these fears for future generations, we offer technology as a temporary plan. We are fully aware of the problem, but fail to take the initiative required to create a more equitable society. What if, as a society, we could stop creating artificial concerns in women by eliminating cosmetic technology? In doing so, we would eradicate a distinction between men and women that has been around for so long that we have come to regard it as natural, which is that women are insecure and need to be fixed, while men do not. Would this begin to create a society where all genders are seen as equal? This is unlikely. While it is easy to claim that the concern exists because the technology is available, but the thought that “Maybe I need plastic surgery” would only be replaced with “What else can I do to fix this?” The condition remains the same, though there are fewer ways of dealing with the psychological distress that accompanies it. Women have been getting cosmetic surgery for years to add the confidence they lack. Yet, as one can never accuse technology on its own, American culture must take responsibility for the way it has wielded this tool. By allowing women’s anxieties to grow to the point where technological means are the only way to gain psychological health, we also allow technology to control who we are as a gendered nation. When we are able to tell women that they are whole beings, we can begin to construct a more equal society.