...ASAM 10 Plastic Surgery Recent study investigated that the rate of Asian American plastic surgery has been increasing through years. For Asian Americans, the three most common plastic surgeries are nose reshaping, eyelid surgery, and breast augmentation. Even though most of the Asian Americans decided to do plastic surgery based on different reason, their purposes are eventually similar, to look more Caucasian. Especially for American born Asian Americans, they suffer more between Asian culture and American culture. Plastic surgery might be an appropriate procedure for them to assimilate into the American culture. While Asian Americans are relying on plastic surgery to gain their assimilation into the mainstream, Asians in Asia want to look more westernized because of the ideal beauty they are looking for in the ‘white’. Asians are looking for the beauty more in westernized recently. They want to look better; beauty means so much to them. When talking about beauty, obviously it’s referring to female. Gender plays an important role here because according to a research group, 91 percent of plastic surgery patient were women, only nine percent were men. (Plastic Surgery Demographics) When plastic surgery is being mentioned, it is being referred to cosmetic surgery, to look more beautiful. As a result, the focus of this topic will be mainly on analyzing Asian American women’s story behind plastic surgery. Class status is also an important criteria in this topic. Plastic surgery...
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...Davies and Gil-Soo Han KoreAn coSmetic SurGery AnD DiGitAl publicity: beAuty by KoreAn DeSiGn Abstract This article examines the relationship between digital publicity and cosmetic surgery. While focused on South Korea, it also discusses China because of the conspicuous Chinese demand for Korean cosmetic surgery in recent years. In fact, China has become the largest export market for Korean cosmetic surgery. The analysis is based on the premise that there is a vital link between cosmetic surgery and digital technology in both these countries. We argue that the celebrity culture spawned by entertainment media has facilitated the normalisation of cosmetic surgery to the extent that it is commonly viewed, quite unproblematically, as a form of human physiological enhancement. The article examines the publicity surrounding cosmetic surgery (comprising media reports, advertisements and commentaries) to see how it is presented in the Korean media and on the internet. These findings are then considered in relation to the promotion of Korean cosmetic surgery in China. In the 2000s, Korean cosmetic surgery rose as a by-product of the massive cultural phenomenon known as Hallyu, or the ‘Korean wave’. Hallyu represents Korea’s media success: its entertainment products have generated enormous revenues since the first exports of Korean popular culture in the 1990s. In 2009, Hallyu revenues were estimated to have reached US$6 billion (cited in Oh, 2010). Cosmetic surgery was first promoted alongside...
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...The Increase of Plastic Surgery Worldwide These days it seems like everybody is getting plastic surgery without hesitation. Plastic surgery was limited before to repair or correct birth defects or injuries of people. When the procedures became less invasive, the doctor’s techniques improved and the material needed for procedures cost less, society began to use plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes. Cosmetic surgery has become more accessible to a wider segment of the population worldwide and be accepted in many countries as a normal procedure. There are many people from different parts of the world that are obsessed to change their physical appearance. In the article “Mannequins Give Shape to a Venezuelan Fantasy” Meridith Kohut who writes for The New York Times, talks about a Venezuelan business man who owns a mannequin factory and he decides to reinvent the figurine’s shape in order to reflects the curvy body shape of the Venezuelan woman and increase his sales with the new mannequin created. Kohut shows on her article how obsessed Venezuelans have become for international beauty competitions and cosmetic surgery, she even points out their socialist’s government concern about the commercialism associated to those cosmetic procedures. I agree with the author that shows the increasing grow in popularity of cosmetic surgeries and treatments in Venezuela. However, there are so many countries besides Venezuela that are tangled with the same cosmetic obsession and the procedures...
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...implies, is through the visual self. This is supported by Thesander’s (1997) assertion that “the most characteristic aspect of fashion is its ability to transform objects into symbols. Clothes are transformed into fashion garments and the body becomes the fashion body.” (67) In this essay, I will discuss, using various readings, about how women’s bodies are moulded by society and how it shifts with the current ideals of beauty. I will also elaborate on how the body is used as a shell to depict what the inside holds, in other words, the identity of the being residing in it. I will use Michel Foucault’s theories to explain how the body is affected by the subjection of discipline and examination. Then, I will use the concept of cosmetic surgery to show how the body is an ongoing project to be worked on, and how its participants employ it as a tool to improve their image, thus their perception of self-identity. The first part of this essay discusses how bodies existing within societies are obliged to conform to social expectations. While being a surface upon which the text of one’s identity is read, it is also obliged to live up to the archetype of beauty, therefore, it is a...
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...American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), the number of surgical enhancement procedures performed in the United States is continuously on the rise due to the fact that these surgeries are ever more available and accepted at a reasonable price. Nearly 12 million plastic surgeries were carried out in 2007 alone. These numbers show an increase of 7% from the previous year and almost a 60% increase from the year 2000 (Plastic Surgery Research.info, 2009). Cosmetic surgery is increasingly popular amongst teenagers; yet the risks associated with these controversial procedures should not be overlooked because of its quick fix for low self-esteem. What was once considered a procedure surgically to correct abnormalities or to reconstruct an accident induced victim, cosmetic surgery is now popular for a number of other personal reasons. The vast increase of interest in cosmetic surgeries is not only popular amongst the older generations seeking their young adult bodies but is also progressively more popular with teenagers seeking the “picture perfect body.” Although teen surgeries made up less than 2% of all cosmetic surgeries in 2007, the obsession produced by modern media to emulate the flawless bodies of the rich and famous puts added pressure on teens to undergo the knife. In today’s society of high-tech devices and “quick fixes,” teens now, more than ever desire the immediate gratification associated with these popular surgeries. The most common procedures for...
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...article because I found myself relating to a lot of the issues the author raised. I was also interested in this article because the author raised a very important issue that almost and probably all women are going through today. I chose this article because I find that it is different from the other articles I have read. I like the article because it is not just fighting the patriarchal world we live in, and stating everything the author wants to change about the world, just like the other articles I have read; rather, this article is stating women’s insecurity and not finding a solution, but rather leaving it up to the readers. On a more honest note, I chose this article because it addresses an issue I personally have. I have considered plastic surgery to fix my big thighs, my hair, and my stomach and so on. The list can go on and not stop. It all depends on how I feel on that day, what I do not like that day and the most disturbing but honest truth, the list get longer after I have seen skinny looking girls around campus. This leads me straight into the article because one of the author main concerns is not the fact that women are choosing to change their image, but it is the fact that, are they being pressured. In this article, one of the arguments the author talked about is the social norms of the western society when it comes to women’s images. She raised the issues that companies are making millions off women in terms of changing the way they look. It might be because these...
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...Cosmetic surgery on teenagers 1. Give an outline of the various views on plastic surgery for teenagers which are presented in texts 1 and 2. In the two texts the views on plastic surgery are quite similar. Both texts agree on the fact that American teenagers might feel that a lot of pressure has been put on them, they strive to be beautiful, but their ideal of beautiful is twisted and for a normal teenager almost unattainable. One of the major problems is that some teenagers find something they don’t, for instance they might think their breasts are too small, then instead of waiting for their bodies to be fully grown or just getting used to having a smaller, they tend to breast enhancement. The adolescents doesn’t let their bodies grow to their fullest, but take the less time consuming way of the surgeon’s knife. 2. How does Valerie Ulene engage the reader in the subject in text 1? Illustrate your answers with examples from the text. Valerie Ulene manages to get a good hold of the reader by introducing the article by telling a story about herself. She explains her own experience about having a large and crooked nose, to the reader, which made her stand out from the average teenager. She mentions that she actually dreamt about getting her nose fixed, but that it was not actually something she ever considered seriously. By telling us about her experiences about plastic surgery, she makes herself equal to those of the teenagers today, who consider surgery themselves. It makes...
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...Plastic Surgery Plastic surgery, the practice of reshaping body tissues for reconstructive or aesthetic purposes dates back to antiquity. Derived from the Greek plastikos, meaning “to mold,” plastic surgery holds a critical place in cultures all over the world. For centuries, tribes would disc their lips, stretch their earlobes, bind their feet, file their teeth, and tattoo and scar their skin. If contemporary popular series such as Extreme Makeover and Nip/Tuck are any indication, plastic surgery has not lost any of its cultural power. While filed teeth may not appeal to everyone, men and women of today still have a wide range of surgical procedures from which to choose, including liposuction, nose jobs, eyelid surgery, tummy tucks, and breast augmentation and reduction. The term “plastic surgery” also includes nonsurgical options such as Botox, microdermabrasion, collagen injections, laser hair removal, and chemical peels. Plastic surgery, however, was not always so readily available or varied and was even shrouded in mystery, magic, and eroticism. For modern people, plastic surgery nowadays has become more and more popular. Some people believe that it is a technique to raise the beauty of a person. The basic intention of this surgery is to enhance the appearance of the individual by changing the parts of the body. On the other hand, other people disagree with it, saying that cosmetic surgery can post a risk of serious diseases such as heart attack. According to debatewise...
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...Michayla Reeves Scott Guenthner English 1021 2/26/14 What really shapes who we are? When you look in the mirror in the morning how do you view yourself? Most people are not comfortable with their body and the way they look because society has corrupted their minds, with the perfect image Jean Kilbourne the author of “Killing Us Softly”, gives insight to how most people will view themselves based on what society has to offer. Christ Godsey the author of “Cro-Magnon Karma: One Dude and his Body Image Issues” shares how men are dealing with identity issues just as much as women. In today’s society no one thinks that men have self esteem issues, but in all reality men deal with issues just like women, in fact they are not comfortable in their own skin. Emily Prager author of “Our Barbies, Ourselves” talked about how Barbie can give a false sense of beauty and identity. As a society and as individuals it is up to us to want to be okay with ourselves, we are given our body for a reason, why change that? Most people do not have the confidence in themselves anymore, because the media has taken that away from them. Kilbourne, makes a point that “most women are not able to be themselves, and need to seek approval from the men”. Some women think that having the latest clothes and shoes will be the way to get approval. In reality though, the style of clothes and shoes that we see in the magazines and on television are not actually true to face. Majority...
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...The Eye of the Beholder “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” but what if the beholder’s vision is blurred? The media today dictates what is beautiful, and these standards are so high that they are impossible to reach. Both Camille Paglia and Daniel Akst point this out in their essays about the effects these standards have on the general population. Paglia uses an appeal to the emotion of her upper-class middle-aged women audience who may choose plastic surgery as a method to stay beautiful whereas Akst uses all forms of rhetorical devices to appeal to everyone in defining what beauty truly is. Camille Paglia, Yale graduate and professor of humanities and media studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, says in her essay “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery” depicts the belief in the beauty of uniformity. Women have a belief that if they don’t look a certain way, then they are not beautiful, so they turn to plastic surgery. In an excerpt from her essay, Paglia shows us this example of a media sex icon “...Amazonian superheroines like Lara Croft: large breasts with a flat midriff and lean hips, a hormonally anomalous profile that few women can attain without surgical intervention or liposuction” (793). What Paglia attempts to accomplish with this essay is to appeal to the emotions of these women, so that they will not lose identity in this sea of uniformity. But woman are constantly having to compete with the young and sexy media icons and turn to things like...
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...themselves to the beautiful people in the magazines, and think that they have to look like them to look ‘’normal’’. Many teenagers want to correct their body with plastic surgery, even if they are not mature yet. The two texts ‘’Plastic surgery for teens’’ written by Valerie Ulene and ‘’Seeking Self-Esteem Through Surgery’’ written by Camille Swenney, illustrates how teenagers and their parents feel about plastic surgery 1. Give an outline of the various views on plastic surgery for teenagers which are presented in text 1 and 2. Cosmetics surgery has come to our modern society, and adolescents and teenagers use it very well, while they don’t know much about the consequences and how plastic surgery hurts the body, and even not help with one’s bad self-confidence. According to Diane Zuckerman in the text ‘’Plastic Surgery for teens´’ by Valerie Ulene, youngsters consider images of men and women who have had done plastic surgery as beautiful, or even worse, they think it is the ideal body image and they want to fit the mole. The text says that cosmetic surgery may not be appropriate for adolescents. It seems ridiculous to fix your look before you are mature. According to the text, teenagers take every imperfection seriously, and that can influence what they think of themselves, so plastic surgeons argue that surgery can improve teenagers’ self-esteem. If you don’t look pretty enough, it can be the source of teasing and self-imposed isolation. Besides this, studies shows that...
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...Nobody can choose how to look when we are born, and I believe that most of us at some point notice our own defects in our body. It’s been quite long time since many women and even men do surgery on themselves to lose some weight, etc. but apparently that it's not enough now. Many people have been doing chin implants for the past few years and the numbers has increase considerably for a better self image, self esteem, and because there is a small risk rate on that operation. I do accept that having a surgery on your chin, because a malformation or an accident it could be of a great relief. Living your entire life with a malformation on your face, could be really painful for many people. Having an accident where the result is a deformation on your face could be even more painful, since a sudden change to our appearance could be as shocking and traumatizing as for a person that loses his or her ability to walk. Speaking for myself I'm grateful that I did not have any malformation on my face and body, cannot speak for those who do have these problems, although it wasn't their choice. The chin implant surgery could really be a great salvation for these people, but there are those that take advantage of these surgical advances for their own cosmetic vanity. According to the article publish by Diane Mapes “surgical procedures that enhance and define the chin line, increased 71 Percent between 2010 and 2011, outdoing breast augmentation, liposuction and even Botox” I find these numbers...
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...3 Introduction Cosmetic surgery is extremely popular among both women and men in South Korea. The kinds of procedures that are most popular are double eyelid surgery, removal of fat, nose jobs, and breast augmentation. Koreans favour bigger and wider eyes and they often undergo cosmetic surgery to achieve this. A slimmer body is seen as an important step in achieving beauty, which encourages women to use procedures such as liposuction to eliminate fat. Nose jobs are undertaken to construct a desirable and favourable ‘pointy’ tip to the nose, over a distinctive wide and flat nose.1 Breast augmentations are also common amongst women. Various explanations have been offered for the popularity of cosmetic surgery but no single explanation is adequate. For example, explanations based on the role of traditional Korean values go some way to confirming the high value traditionally placed on the colour white, but traditionalism does not explain the popularity of surgery for ‘Westernised’ eyes. Colonialism and Americanisation are important in helping to explain the popularity of cosmetic surgery in South Korea, but these miss important traditional and gender dimensions. Feminists’ analyses exclude men, and so fail to explain the popularity of surgery amongst Korean men. In addition to explanations based on Traditionalism, Colonialism, Americanism and Feminism, this essay will argue that the dynamic and evolving nature of Korean national identity has brought us to the point...
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...Ethical Dilemmas in Global Health Care: Cosmetic Surgery on Children Grand Canyon University NRS-437V November 13, 2011 Ethical Dilemmas in Global Health Care: Cosmetic Surgery on Children Nationally and internationally public awareness and concerns regarding cosmetic surgery on children is increasing (Kitiparnchai & Then, 2011). The United States of America had over 36,000 cosmetic procedures on children just in 2009 (Kitiparnchai & Then, 2011). These elective cosmetic procedures include: rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, otoplasty, liposuction, tummy tucks, and westernizing eye surgery (blepharoplasty) for Asian children (Kitiparnchai & Then, 2011; Ouellette, 2009). Blephroplasty widens the eyes of Asians, and is even performed on newborns (Ouellette, 2009). There is no specific law that blocks the use of plastic surgery on children (Ouellette, 2009). The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery code of ethics states merely that surgical operation should not be performed if it is not calculated to improve or benefit the patient (Ouellette, 2009). The Australian Medical Association position statement on body image and health states that “ patients under 18 years of age should not have procedures to modify or enhance physical appearance, unless it is in their medical and or psychological interest” (Kitiparnchai & Then, 2011, p. 514).There is no explanation by either of these entities on how we should determine if it is in their medical and or...
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...technology has evolved, along with some of the best surgeons in the world. Doctors are now able to provide drastic and permanent enhancements to the human body. If a person wants to make life changes or enhancement to their physical appearance through the power of comedic surgery many imperfections can be modified. Americans have spent $11.5 billion dollars on over 11 million cosmetic procedures in 2006. This is a 48% increase over the number performed in 2000 according to the National Clearinghouse of Plastic Surgery Statistics. Cosmetic procedures have been proven to provide fixtures of today’s physical problems but at what cost, or risks do these procedures come with? Why do people decided to undergo surgery? Based on the article “5 Reasons Why People Get Cosmetic Surgery” (GAGE , 2007) The top five reason why people choose to get cosmetic surgery are: One for health reasons, some people may have gone through rough times caused by sickness or massive weight loss, so it's only natural for people to want correct the damage caused by their illness. Accidents are another reason why people get cosmetic surgery because they have been in an accident, and have become severely deformed and cosmetic/plastic surgery is the only option to help fix peoples...
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