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This article discusses the cultural ideology that permeates our society surrounding female body image by focusing specifically on socially constructed ideals of beauty and identity as they are represented in media texts-those of the makeover programs, A Makeover Story, What Not to Wear, and Extreme Makeover. For this study, we conducted textual analyses of selected episodes of each of these programs to examine the ideological impact of patriarchy, particularly as it relates to female body image.Cosmetics companies promise women an outcome and suggest an ideal way of looking. Voluminous eyelashes, moisturizing lip color, natural looking face powder, and age defying face creams all become part of something Schwichtenberg (1989) calls an "ideology of beauty" (p. 293). According to Keranen (2000), this ideology works by transforming an ideal beauty into a timeless, universal standard toward which "ideal women" should strive (p. 153). Advertising has been telling women for years that through the purchase of cosmetic products, they too can become the "ideal." Ironically, the very same advertisements that claim to unlock every woman's beauty instill the notion that women are somehow inherently flawed without beauty enhancing products (Keranen, 2000). Hence, the need for the makeover arises in discourses related to beauty.

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Scholars have debated the feminist critique of female beauty practices for years with the fundamental disagreement revolving around the notion of "agency." This study used textual analysis to explore how the concept of "agency" has been employed in cosmetic surgery ads placed in large city magazines. Three themes emerged: realize your potential, pleasing yourself, and control your destiny. This research expands our understanding of how physicians are repositioning cosmetic surgery to women through discourses that empower, appeal to their sense of self, and play upon feminist sensibilities that privilege individual choice. This research also contributes to the literature surrounding the ongoing debate of agency by examining how it plays out in another form of text previously unexamined (physician advertising) and how it touches upon a new player in the health beauty system (physicians) rather than prior studies, which focus on idealized images in the media.

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