Blame it on patriarchy: More sexist attitudes are associated with stronger consideration of cosmetic surgery for oneself and one's partner

Abstract

In the present work, we examined associations between oppressive, sexist beliefs and consideration of cosmetic surgery for oneself and also endorsement of cosmetic surgery for one's romantic partner. A total of 554 German-speaking volunteers from the community, mainly in Austria, completed measures of consideration of cosmetic surgery and three measures of sexist attitudes, while a subset of participants in romantic relationships completed a measure of endorsement of cosmetic surgery for their partners along with the measures of sexism. Preliminary analyses showed that women and single respondents were more likely to consider having cosmetic surgery than men and committed respondents, respectively. Further analyses showed that consideration of cosmetic surgery for oneself was significantly associated with sexist attitudes, particularly hostile attitudes to women. In addition, among participants in a relationship, sexist attitudes were associated with endorsement of cosmetic surgery for one's partner. These results indicate that attitudes to cosmetic surgery for oneself and one's partner are shaped by gender-ideological belief systems in patriarchal societies. Possible implications for understanding the motivations for having cosmetic surgery, among both single respondents and couples, are discussed.

A systematic review of the ambivalent sexism literature: Hostile sexism protects men’s power; benevolent sexism guards traditional gender roles.

“…The remainder of the articles examined the use of beauty-related practices using self-reports. Ambivalent sexism (mostly HS) was associated with considering cosmetic surgery for oneself and partner (Swami et al, 2013) and with beauty practices (e.g., men’s growing of facial hair or building muscles; Oldmeadow & Dixson, 2016; Swami & Voracek, 2013; Zheng & Zheng, 2015; but cf. Hellmer et al, 2018).…”

Perceptions of individuals who engage in age concealment.

“…In women, signs of aging such as appearance of wrinkles, sagging skin, and uneven skin tone have been linked to lowered female mate value (Buss, 1989; Maestripieri et al, 2014) and thus being at a disadvantage to attract potential mates. It is therefore understandable that for women who want to seek romantic partners, maintaining a youthful appearance is important (Harris, 1994; Swami et al, 2013). In line with this, research has found that older women who engaged in antiaging procedures were rated as more attractive and healthier (Nellis et al, 2017; Tian et al, 2020), which therefore implies that age concealment could prove to be beneficial for older women who are seeking partners.…”

Aesthetic Clinic and Beauty Myths in Indonesia: Discourse Analysis of Beauty Representation in Instagram Accounts

“…Practically, the research on the representation of beauty that is not displayed by the Aesthetic Clinic Instagram account provides input that the beauty myth is an attempt of the patriarchal society to control women through their beauty (Bettman 2005;Swami et al 2013). The concept of beauty in today's times teaches two things mainly to women, namely, the adoration of the fear of increasing age and the worship of body weight control.…”

“…Beauty as a feminine representation has been deeply rooted in a culturally wider programmed social system. Every day, women are convinced by beauty myths that increasingly plunge women into the abyss of worshiping beauty (Andreoni and Petrie 2008;Muassomah et al 2021;O'Connor and Gladstone 2018;Swami et al 2013). Beauty or sexuality of women's bodies is always considered as a provocation of sexual harassment against women themselves.…”