On the Cutting Edge: Cosmetic Surgery and the Technological Production of the Gendered Body

“…The human body is being redefined in several rapidly developing and highly technologically mediated discourses such as genetics, immunology, surgery, embryology, and reproductive biology (e.g., Braidotti 1989;Balsamo 1992;Haraway 1991;Casper 1993;Hirschauer 1991). The role of different technologies is crucial in constructing the objects of these discourses, both materially and visually (Clarke and Fujimura 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hermaphrodite Patients: In Vitro Fertilization and the Transformation of Male Infertility

Ploeg

1995

Science, Technology, & Human Values

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In the medical-technological practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF), it is increasingly the couple, rather than an individual patient, that is considered the unit of (infertility) treatment. This article traces some mechanisms involved in the construction of medical interventions on female bodies as appropriate and effective therapeutic solutions to problems and diagnoses pertaining to male bodies. It traces the transformation of male infertility through shifts in localization and definition of the problem, concomitant reconceptualizations of the techniques involved, redistributions of properties, and specific ways of constructing "success. " It is argued that both the notion of the couple as the patient in cases of male infertility and the claim that IVF techniques are appropriate solutions to this couple's problem simultaneously presuppose and legitimize medical interventions on women's bodies. This double movement is produced by leaving exactly the required material work of physical interventions—and, consequently, the uneven distribution of costs between the sexes—out of scientific accounts of these practices.

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“…Plastic surgery is another example of commodification of the body that has been on the rise the last decades. Elective forms of body transformation to comply with aesthetic norms anchor the social worth of human beings on an objectified view of their bodies [14], and make body parts susceptible to be traded. The issue of body enhancement and cyborgs can only exacerbate this trend.…”

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confidence: 99%

Commodification separated us from nature, from each other and from ourselves. Can technology bring us back together?

Lumbreras

2019

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La mercantilización se define como «la transformación de los bienes, servicios, ideas y personas en objetos de comercio estandarizados». Este artículo presenta una visión de la mercantilización como un proceso que se aplica no sólo a la naturaleza sino también a los bienes, al trabajo, al propio cuerpo, las experiencias y las relaciones. El artículo reflexiona sobre papel clave de la tecnociencia.El camino hacia la reconciliación —con la naturaleza, con el otro y con nosotros mismos— pasa por reconocer y apreciar lo que en ellos es único e irremplazable. El artículo concluye con algunas ideas iniciales sobre cómo la tecnología puede utilizarse como una herramienta. Dar marcha atrás en el proceso de mercantilización es esencial si deseamos establecer una economía sostenible y una sociedad más humana.

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On the Cutting Edge: Cosmetic Surgery and the Technological Production of the Gendered Body

Cited by 24 publications

References 0 publications

Constructivist Perspectives on Medical Work: Medical Practices and Science and Technology Studies

Constructivist Perspectives on Medical Work: Medical Practices and Science and Technology Studies

Hermaphrodite Patients: In Vitro Fertilization and the Transformation of Male Infertility

Commodification separated us from nature, from each other and from ourselves. Can technology bring us back together?

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