Cosmetic Surgery and Constructing Femininty
Breast Augmentation Before and After
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Growing up I watched very different television channels compared to my peers, i.e. The Food Network, Lifetime, in particular The Discovery Health Channel. It is different from the main Discovery Channel in that it covers only health topics and is centered mainly on keeping families healthy. One show in particular that I loved to watch was called Plastic Surgery: Before and After. Majority of these the procedures on the show were “enhancement” surgeries being performed on white, middle to upper class women. A recurring phrase that these patients asserted after having these procedures, especially breast augmentation was “…now I feel more feminine”.
I thought it was interesting that this sentiment was so often felt among patients. In class I described the relationship between gender and technology as one where technology is used to more easily adhere to what is believed to be correct for their gender. One can argue then that patients that chose to undergo certain types of surgeries are adhering to what is believed to be feminine.
For example of constructing femininity is among the women in the study in the scholarly journal by Diana Dull and Candace West Accounting for Cosmetic Surgery: The Accomplishment of Gender. Specifically of the woman in a surgeon in the study discusses. This woman, in her twenties, working as model, wanted to stay competitive in the industry by having a face lift done in order to give her an even more youthful look similar to the teenagers who were becoming popular. She is quoted as saying, “[The teenager look] is where the industry is going and I want to say in it”. In this case, the fashion industry has presented what is an acceptable form of marketable femininity. The model accordingly uses cosmetic surgery to construct this femininity, as did many of the other women in the study.
Many of the surgeries in the study were similar to the ones alluded to earlier in that they were mostly of white, middle-aged women. Most were getting surgeries in order to slow the signs of aging. For these patients, society had presented to them what a woman should look and by extension what femininity should look like. By have these procedure done they were more easily adhering to what was believed as correct for there gender.
Another example of constructing femininity are the women in the New York Times article In Europe, Debate Over Islam and Virginity who choose to have a hymenoplasty procedure done. According to the article, in certain Arab and African Muslim cultures chastity is equated with a good woman. A woman’s chastity, or lack thereof, very much effects how others perceive that woman’s womanhood, more important femininity. One interviewed woman even went so far to say that “In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt”. In essence, by using technology to reconstruct their hymens, these women are using technology to reconstruct their idea of womanhood and femininity.
Some may argue that these surgeries and technologies are empowering because they give these woman a right to femininity. In actuality this technology is not empowering because they allow women to adhere to a narrow norm to what is feminine. By ignoring the sociological undertones that these surgeries have, we ignore the fact that these societal pressures exist. In each of the examples above, the women are perpetuating oppressive forms of femininity.
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Roldine–
Some heavy formatting issues here; can you fix ‘em, please and thanks?
What I hear you arguing here is that the technology of cosmetic surgery is not empowering, because it “allows women to adhere to a narrow norm of what is feminine.” That is of course the argument of both the article by Dull and West that you cite, as well as the implied argument of the NYTimes article you mention. When we paired those two essays in our class conversation, Laura also pushed us to think about the NYTimes article in terms of Dull-and-West’s idea that “cosmetic surgery reinforces a Western ideal of beauty,” and asked what ideal is being pursued by women who chose hymenoplasty.
So my question is really how you—Roldine—might go beyond the material that we have already covered together, and develop a claim that differs from those we’ve already reviewed. What enables you (for instance) to say that “in actuality” this technology is not empowering? What is the specific context that supports such a claim?
BTW: the topic you’ve chosen to write about seems to have been the single most popular topic for this round of essays; for a range of your classmates’ views on the questions you are pursuing here, see
cosmetic and reconstructive surgery and gender roles;
Virtue, Virginity and Marriage;
Hymenoplasty in Northern India ;
Hymenoplasty and Constructions of Gender ;
Constructing Virgins