I recently red an article (thanks James) entitled: Has Artificial Beauty Become the New Feminism? By Jennifer Cognard-Black, Ms. Magazine. Posted September 29, 2007.
The article raises issues about women and the increasing cosmetic surgery industry and the paradox of choice. The article can be found at: http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/63683/?page=1
The article critiques the claim that cosmetic surgery is the new feminism and discusses the ways which plastic surgery is becoming more and more mainstream and acceptable in society. Most feminists are the first to adamantly oppose plastic surgery as a tool for a variety of reasons….
In starting a discussion about this topic I have a question for everyone: Cosmetic Surgery. Is this a setting of liberation or oppression – or both?
“Another comparable limitation (of the women’s liberation movement) is the tendency to reject certain good things only in order to punish men… There is no reason why a women’s liberation activist should not try to look pretty and attractive.”(Markovic 1979).
As I talked about in my previous post from when we are young women we are taught (both directly and indirectly) about looking good/pretty/thin/tanned and so on. Cosmetic surgery seems to me to be the manifestation of huge pressure on women to adhere to cultural ideals of beauty. That said is plastic surgery an example of conformity? Woman conforming to the westernized view of attractive, for example, Jewish girls getting their noses redone!!
Most of the argument for plastic surgery is rooted in the idea of choice. Women have the right to choose if they want to change their bodies. They also have the right to choose to use nail technicians, manicurists, dietitians, hairstylists, cosmetologists, masseuses, trainers, electrolysists, pharmacologists and dermatologists!
All these experts transforming the human (particularly female) body into an increasingly artificial and ever more perfect and beautiful OBJECT. To me all of this is an example of the ways a woman’s attractiveness is defined as attractive to men.
When people argue that all these changes are the new way of feminism aren’t they contradicting the whole point of feminism, which I understood to be the valuing of ourselves as who we are… as equals…? Cosmetic surgery is ultimately a way of saying I do not accept myself as I am.
Furthermore the reality is these surgical interventions are nasty, dangerous and risky they can result in infection, bleeding, embolisms, facial nerve injury, scar formation, skin loss, blindness, crippling and even death. What a perfect Christmas gift for your loved one!!!!
The knives and needles of the cosmetic surgeons “what kind of knives are these? Magic Knives. Magic knives in a patriarchal context” (Morgan, 1991)
Again I will put it to everyone: Cosmetic Surgery. Is this a setting of liberation or oppression – or both?
4 comments:
Hi Christina, you have posed a great question that I don’t think I can answer. To me it seems different women do it for different reasons. I work in retail and I’ve had women say they need new tops because their husband just bought them a boob job…which to me suggests oppression. But at the same time I know a single girl who since she was little was very self conscious of her nose and finally saved enough money to get it altered and is now very happy which I guess is liberation… I don’t agree with plastic surgery personally but then again I don’t have a specific feature on my face or body that causes me intense personal loathing. I think there should be serious counselling as a must have before any cosmetic surgery (such as ‘love the skin your in’ workshops). On an interesting note…. I’ve often wondered why it is the common thought that women get plastic surgery because of men…but I’ve read time and time again that women often dress to impress other women. That is women notice effort put in by other women more than men do. So is it possible that women may be going under the knife to feel better around other women?
Hi Christina,
Very good blog and Rachel made some excellent comments! In particular I have to agree with Rachel that women dress for other women. Of course women want to look attractive for the opposite sex but I have found that my boyfriend often fails to notice how my new jeans shape my bum or how my new mascara does a way better job at separating and lengthening my lashes but my girlfriends always comment. And I often find myself "checking out" other girls in terms of whether she has a "good" body and nice clothes/hair/makeup etc.. So I would argue that women mostly go under the other knife because they are well aware of how judgmental other women are! After all how many of the men in your life would notice that your lips are slightly plumper after that recent botox injection but your girlfriends definitely well!
In response to the notion of conforming to the Westernized view of what is attractive I would say what humans view as attractive is partly the result of evolutionary experiences for example, small waist and big hips are a sign of fertility. Of course culture plays a role and this is evident as what is attractive differs across cultures.
I do agree that cosmetic surgery is dangerous but I find it difficult to agree that cosmetic treatments only objectify women, I think that men's perception of women has changed (largely as a result of the feminist movement). In my opinion today men and women are of equal status. I haven't answered your question but I'll finish with this... Look good feel good!
Hi Christina,
I hope you don't mind if I set all psychological theories aside and have an opinionated rant...
I think it is abhorrent to beleive that cosmetic plastic surgery is liberating for women in any way. Technology has enabled women to conform to physical feminine expectations in a radically invasive and dangerous way never before seen.
To claim that plastic surgery is liberating because it is a choice does not recognise the multiple forces in society that impinges on a women ability to make a free choice at all.
I agree with Naomi Wolfe when she said that the importance on female beauty in contemporary society was organised by the patriarch to detract attention and value from feminism.
And I think any argument that says surgery isn't sexist because women do it for other women is completely invalid. Sexism is documented to be promulgated by other women.
At first glance, the idea that cosmetic surgery could be liberating for the modern woman, seems logical.
In western society beauty is often considered to denote power and influence (over men), ergo giving women the opportunity to increase their influence and power in society would be liberating. But cosmetic surgery and the influence it infers is inherently superficial, and in the long run it’s not going to stop you from looking like a desperate old bag clutching at her fading youth and beauty.
If cosmetic surgery is all about looking beautiful for some reason or another, it all seems rather silly as no one can stay beautiful forever.
Perhaps it would help if we looked at this from a different angle?
Cosmetic surgery is still rather expensive, and predominantly the domain of wealthy or moderately successful women. Couldn’t we consider cosmetic surgery to be something of a power play, a symbol of status, a bold statement that says to other people: “look at me: I’m so wealthy I can afford to whittle away thousands of dollars just to make my eyes slightly higher on my face!”
It doesn’t matter if it makes you beautiful; the act of getting surgery done is a social statement in itself.
As Men buy sports cars...
Do women get nose reconstructions?
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