Aesthetic surgery and the expressive body

Abstract

In this article, we explore the relation between bodies and selves evident in the narratives surrounding aesthetic surgery. In much feminist work on aesthetic surgery, such narratives have been discussed in terms of the normalising consequences of the objectifying, homogenising, cosmetic gaze. These discussions stress the ways in which we model our bodies, under the gaze of others, in order to conform to social norms. Such an objectified body is contrasted with the subjective body; the body-for-the-self. In this article, however, we wish to make sense of the narratives surrounding such surgery by invoking the expressive body, which fits on neither side of this binary. We wish to explore how the modification of the body's anatomical features (physiology) is taken to be a modification of its expressive possibilities, and therefore a modification of possibilities for inter-subjective relations with others. It is such expressive possibilities that, we suggest, underlie decisions to undergo surgical procedures. The possibility of modification of the expressive possibilities of the body, by the modification of its anatomical features, rests on the social imaginaries attached to anatomical features. In the context of such imaginaries, individual decisions to undergo or promote surgery can be both intelligible and potentially empowering. However, the social consequences of such acts are an increasing normalisation of the 'body under the knife' and an intolerance of bodily difference. This, we suggest, can only be changed by a re-visioning of bodily imaginaries so that expressive possibilities can be experienced across bodies with a range of physiological features.

Pretty in Plastic: Aesthetic authenticity in Barbie Land

“…These structures and interests are also economic; aesthetic capitalism offers the products and services necessary to become ones best aesthetic self. Consumer culture and media ensure we are continually reminded of aesthetic ideals (Budgeon, 2021) while products and services, including aesthetic surgery (Alsop and Lennon, 2018) offer means to achieving aspirational aesthetics (Foster, 2022). It is no coincidence then that the Barbie movie is both possible and successful in 2023, as it reflects and reproduces this aesthetic attention.…”

“VULVA STUDY. hidden but not undiscovered” in Conversation with “Manufacturing the Vulva”

“…The majority of studies on the manufacturing of the vulva or vagina focus on the increasing medicalization and mediatization of (postpartum) women's gendered bodies that occur under the conditions of medical technology and surgical intervention possibilities and thus enhancement on (postpartum) women's bodies. Cosmetic surgery has been studied from feminist perspectives [5], for instance, in relation to questions of the aesthetic management of female reproductive health and sexuality [6] and to questions of agency and consequently social constraint and individual self-determination [7], as well as in investigations of body modifications as expressions of ways to change inter-subjective relationships [8]. Feminist studies on the sociology of the body point to the normalization (mediated by the media) of cosmetic surgery [9] and numerous social science studies discuss bodily makeover trends, including intimate surgery, discussing staged transformation processes of female bodies [10][11][12][13][14].…”

Making the Cut: Mass Media and the Growing Desire for Genital Cosmetic Surgery by Young Women and Girls

“…12) as "the never-ending renovation of the self". However, Alsop and Lennon (2018;p. 95) attempt to push back against the negative feminist stance towards cosmetic surgery, arguing it enables "the expressive body", which allows for a modification of possibilities for inter-subjective relations with others.…”