Becoming/Being a Cosmetic Surgery Patient: Semantic Instability and the Intersubjective Self

Pitts‐Taylor, Victoria

doi:10.1080/15240650902979202

Cited by 28 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Bordo, for example, states that Davis presents the self as an ‘authentic and personal reference point untouched by external values and demands or relations with others [ 4 ]. The third position that has evolved, and which accords more with our position, regards the motivation for cosmetic surgery as neither fully internal nor external but rather an intersubjective and embodied process that takes place in a consumerist environment [ 22 ].…”

Section: The Growth and Normalisation Of Cosmetic Surgery Within The mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bodies are active and reflexive but also heavily influenced by other bodies and gendered and racialised norms [ 26 ]. In this position, cosmetic surgery is approached as ‘a purchase, characterised by the rhetorics of fashion, consumption and self-presentation rather than medical or psychological necessity’ [ 22 ]. Here then for us ‘consumption of cosmetic surgery is a strategic act on the part of individuals who are rational and intelligent but who reside in a structural context where class, gender and race determine action’ [ 22 ].…”

Section: The Growth and Normalisation Of Cosmetic Surgery Within The mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cosmetic Surgery: Regulatory Challenges in a Global Beauty Market

Griffiths

Mullock

2017

Health Care Anal

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The market for cosmetic surgery tourism is growing with an increase in people travelling abroad for cosmetic surgery. While the reasons for seeking cosmetic surgery abroad may vary the most common reason is financial, but does cheaper surgery abroad carry greater risks? We explore the risks of poorly regulated cosmetic surgery to society generally before discussing how harm might be magnified in the context of cosmetic tourism, where the demand for cheaper surgery drives the market and makes surgery accessible for increasing numbers of people. This contributes to the normalisation of surgical enhancement, creating unhealthy cultural pressure to undergo invasive and risky procedures in the name of beauty. In addressing the harms of poorly regulated surgery, a number of organisations purport to provide a register of safe and ethical plastic surgeons, yet this arguably achieves little and in the absence of improved regulation the risks are likely to grow as the global market expands to meet demand. While the evidence suggests that global regulation is needed, the paper concludes that since a global regulatory response is unlikely, more robust domestic regulation may be the best approach. While domestic regulation may increase the drive towards foreign providers it may also have a symbolic effect which will reduce this drive by making people more aware of the dangers of surgery, both to society and individual physical wellbeing.

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Section: The Growth and Normalisation Of Cosmetic Surgery Within The mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Growth and Normalisation Of Cosmetic Surgery Within The mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cosmetic Surgery: Regulatory Challenges in a Global Beauty Market

Griffiths

Mullock

2017

Health Care Anal

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“…The problem with anti-ageing interpretations are that they are premised upon essentialist conceptions of ‘ageing’ and ‘problematically construct a natural, essential, authentic body’ (Pitts-Taylor 2009: 121). In terms of the ‘older’ body, to borrow from Twigg (2004: 60), ‘[e]ssentializing discourses in relation to the body need to be replaced by ones that recognize its nature as a social text, something that is both formed and given meaning within culture’.…”

Section: Cosmetic Surgery: a Practice For Stylising An ‘Older’ Selfmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cutting critique: transforming ‘older’ through cosmetic surgery

Garnham

2013

Ageing and Society

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This paper engages with a cultural politics of 'older'. At the centre of this politics are essentialist discourses of corporeal 'ageing' that limit and stigmatise the subjective experience of 'older'. Drawing together theoretical insights from Foucault's work on care of the self with data from in-depth interviews with 'older' people who have undergone cosmetic surgery and cosmetic surgery practitioners, this paper advances the proposition that cosmetic surgery can be re-imagined as an ethical practice of self-care. To critique the limitations imposed by 'natural ageing' through an ethic of 'ageing gracefully', the paper explores how older people who have undergone cosmetic surgery stylise the ethical experience of 'older' through active resistance of an 'elderly' identity. It argues that the practice of cosmetic surgery by 'older' people constitutes a cutting critique of the limits of 'older' and an experiment with the possibility of exceeding and ultimately transforming those limits.KEY WORDS -older people, cosmetic surgery, ageing, Foucault, ethics, care of the self.

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“…The role of the doctor becomes that of a service provider, where the patient has the opportunity to 'shop around' and decide which surgeon is best suited for them. Furthermore, the role of the patient is replaced by that of a consumer, which destabilizes the authority of a doctor by removing the legitimizing gaze of the doctor (Gimlin, 2010;Pitts-Taylor, 2009). Instead, the patient is a consumer that defines and takes responsibility for her own health and health care.…”

Section: Neoliberalism and Trust In The Doctor-patient/consumer Relatiomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It fails to account for the emotionally intense recovery process that comes after a woman's arrival to the 'flat side'. By adopting this language and incorporating it into their cosmetic surgery accounts, women participate in shaping political and social meanings of cosmetic surgery (Pitts- Taylor, 2009). Furthermore, women are participating in defining an ideal female body through the language they use to describe their cosmetic surgery journeys.…”

Section: Hidden Processes Of Cosmetic Surgerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Flat, Frozen and Everlasting: Cosmetic Surgery Abroad and the Production of Erotic Female Bodies in Neoliberal North America

Guigue¹

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Cosmetic surgery abroad is a growing trend in North American society, as surgeons are offering increasingly competitive pricing in an international marketplace. This thesis examines the impact that these contemporary cosmetic surgery practices have in shaping a normative, heterosexual female identity that defines an erotic ideal female body in North American culture. An overarching neoliberal strategy that establishes the female body as requiring work through consumption practices is rendered visible through language, and informs women's understanding of everyday life in bodies that will be inevitably transformed by aging or pregnancy. The ideal erotic female body that is linked to ideas of youthfulness and happiness provides a medium for analyzing the moralized, implicit aspects of gender performances that may be localized on the female body and its symbolic meaning within cosmetic surgery practices. A qualitative analysis of online blogs written by North American women regarding their experiences traveling to the Dominican Republic for cosmetic surgery was performed in order to analyze discourse and meaning making within contemporary cosmetic surgery practices. I would also like to thank the Lovely Ladies, without your encouragement and emotional support this thesis would not have been possible. iv-124

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Becoming/Being a Cosmetic Surgery Patient: Semantic Instability and the Intersubjective Self

Cited by 28 publications

References 4 publications

Cosmetic Surgery: Regulatory Challenges in a Global Beauty Market

Cosmetic Surgery: Regulatory Challenges in a Global Beauty Market

A cutting critique: transforming ‘older’ through cosmetic surgery

Flat, Frozen and Everlasting: Cosmetic Surgery Abroad and the Production of Erotic Female Bodies in Neoliberal North America

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