What is cosmetic

surgery?
operations and other procedures that revise
or change the appearance, colour, texture,
structure or position of bodily features, which
most would consider otherwise to be within
the broad range of normal for that person.

British Association of Plastic Surgeons

(www.baaps.org.uk)

36,482 procedures
Statistics
(2009) (up 6.7% from 2008)
90% of procedures carried out on women
Procedures on men up 21% (to 3623)
Male breast reduction up from 323 to 581
(81% increase)
Facelifts for women down by 8%

Statistics (2006)
Top five procedures for men:

Top 5 procedures for women:

(consultant plastic surgeon)

This year, we have recorded a dramatic rise

in a number of male surgical procedures,

probably due to heightened media attention,
which has allowed men to realise the positive
outcomes that can be achieved. The continued
popularity of brow lifts and eyelid surgery may
mean that patients still keen to have
rejuvenating treatments despite the recession,
are choosing more cost-effective measures
such as targeting one particular feature, rather
than having a whole facelift.

Tony Poer
(Consultant
plastic
Those considering an aesthetic
surgery should always be aware that
surgeon)

no procedure is without risk. When

performed under the right
circumstances, cosmetic surgery can
have a positive psychological impact
and improve quality of life.

Representations of
cosmetic
surgery
Spectacle extreme
cosmetic surgery
Excess the scalpel slave / surgery junkie
See www.awfulplasticsurgery.com

Representations of
cosmetic
surgery
Spectacle extreme
cosmetic surgery
Excess the scalpel slave / surgery junkie
See www.awfulplasticsurgery.com
Celebrity
The seeking of perfection / youth

Representations of
cosmetic
surgery
Spectacle extreme
cosmetic surgery
Excess the scalpel slave / surgery junkie
See www.awfulplasticsurgery.com
Celebrity
The seeking of perfection / youth
The quick fix; nips and tucks

Representations of
cosmetic
surgery
Spectacle extreme
cosmetic surgery
Excess the scalpel slave / surgery junkie
See www.awfulplasticsurgery.com
Celebrity
The seeking of perfection / youth
The quick fix; nips and tucks
Normalised form of consumption reveal

parties; Botox parties; gifts; treats

Rethinking cosmetic
surgery
Cosmetic surgery as a dilemma rather than a
form of self-inflicted subordination (Kathy
Davis 1995: 180) - Surgery is both desirable
and problematic
Women are seeking normal bodies, rather
than beautiful ones women are negotiating
the differences between their own bodies
and ideal female beauty (Gimlin 2002: 7)
Women do not return for repeated surgeries
(focussed body project)

Rethinking cosmetic
surgery
Cosmetic surgery transforms more than a
womans appearance; it transforms her
identity as well (Davis 2003: 75)
But places women in a double bind the
taint of inauthenticity (Gimlin 2002: 104);
the problem of passing.
Surgery always requires a defence: (a) that
they deserve surgery; and (b) convincing
themselves that the revised appearance is
connected to the self.

Rethinking cosmetic
surgery
Decisions are undoubtedly shaped by ideas
about what constitutes beauty / the measuring
of womens value by their appearance. But
[] to portray the women I talked to as
cultural dupes, as passively submitting to the
demands of beauty, is to misrepresent them
badly. A more appropriate image, I would
suggest, is to present them as savvy cultural
negotiators, attempting to make out as best
they can within a culture that limits their
options. (Gimlin 2002: 106)

Cosmetic surgery as the

eradication
of
difference
Racial / ethnic surgeries
makes
us uneasy socially
/ culturally in a way that other surgeries do not.
Surgery on people with Downs Syndrome (see
Davis 2003: Epilogue):
This particular case made me stop thinking about
the people who have cosmetic surgery or the
practitioners who perform it or even the media that
promote it and, instead, to start wondering why the
world I live in prefers to disguise difference rather
than confront it. (Davis 2003: 143)

Feminist utopias?
Kathryn Pauly Morgan

Ms Ugly competitions
Orlan
Utopian models
privilege the flamboyant,
public spectacle as
feminist intervention and
deprivilege the
interventions which are
part of living in a
gendered social order
(Davis 2003)

Conclusions
Surgery is growing in popularity, but remains

controversial.
Feminists such as Debra Gimlin and Kathy Davis have
argued against outright rejection of cosmetic surgery,
however problematic it is. Instead, they suggest that
we should see surgery as a dilemma for women, and
as a means of negotiating identity.
Those undergoing surgery are aiming to be normal,
not beautiful.
Surgery can be understood as the attempt to eradicate
difference this reflects (and potentially
problematises) the ways we conceptualise others