IT WON’T necessarily be carried out with a scalpel. Perhaps it’ll be a syringe full of toxins. But over time, one way or another, there is a good chance you’ll resort to cosmetic medicine — especially if you’re a woman. That’s because today’s social codes make taking care of one’s appearance the least you can do.
Are social networks and the narcissistic society they produce to blame? Yes. But those aren’t the only reasons people have increasingly sought out plastic surgery. Advances in medicine and the efforts to prevent ageing are also behind this evolution. And plastic surgery has changed, with easier and less invasive procedures available.
Another contributing factor is that information about cosmetic medicine, thanks to the sharing of stories online, circulates better and contributes to making it less stigmatising and taboo: a 50-year-old woman today, in the eyes of society, doesn’t look at all like a 50-year-old woman from 50 years ago. This has put more social pressure on the women who haven’t yet resorted to it.
Collective ideas about make-up and hair dyeing have also evolved. As Marie-Thérèse Duflos-Priot explains in her article, "Le maquillage, séduction protocolaire et artifice normalisé" ("Make-up, formal seduction and standardised artifice"), cosmetics were codified along moral lines and associated with superficiality, seduction and sexuality.
...
IN THE past, make-up was forbidden for "pure" young girls and tolerated for virtuous women on condition that it was discreet — it was seen as a sign of easy virtue when applied conspicuously.
Nowadays, a woman of any age who goes make-up-free, without hiding her acne or her wrinkles, is regarded as careless. Women who don’t cover their grey hair, even after the age of retirement, are rare. This is because cosmetics have gone from being sexual to something akin to good manners, a form of politeness that consists of appearing young, in good health and at ease.
This social evolution is linked to that of medicine itself, and to health policies that made prevention one of the field’s central dimensions.
"As soon as certain individual behaviours were identified as public health problems, they became singled out," says Vincent Barras, a medical historian from the Lausanne University Hospital.
"Tobacco-prevention opened the way. Then, obesity-prevention became a priority. Feeling comfortable is also feeling attractive. We have moved from a paternalistic medicine to an era where each individual is held accountable, in the eyes of society, for the upkeep of his own health."
Today, with the demographic ageing of industrialised societies, age prevention itself seems to have become a priority. The problem is that living longer isn’t sufficient anymore. As well as feeling good, people are also expected to look it.
"With age, there’s an increasing gap between the image we have of ourselves and the image others or our mirror reflect back to us," says Pierre Quinodoz, head of the Swiss Society for Plastic, Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery. "Who hasn’t woken up in great form, only to be told by others that they looked tired or in poor shape?
"Our work contributes to the better-being of patients, because it aims to harmonise the inside image with the outside image."
At the same time, the permanent display of ourselves through social networks largely contributes to the confusion between reality and appearances.
Working on one’s own image, whether it’s through putting on make-up or resorting to plastic surgery, then becomes legitimate insofar as it contributes to psychological wellbeing.
"In a society where each individual is brought to watch, look at and take care of himself, appearance has become the measure of his own value," says Hélène Martin, a gender studies professor at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Work and Health.
...
PSYCHOLOGICAL studies support the idea that cosmetic surgery builds self-confidence. And some studies say that women, the main customers, could benefit from this type of medicine.
"The biological injustice is that, in the course of their lives, women go through hormonal changes that do a lot more damage compared to what men go through," says Quinodoz. "Our work enables them to regain confidence at an age where their social life used to be considered over."
Martin sees things as being relative.
"Women don’t age in a worse way, but their ageing is seen as uglier than for men. At the same biological age, they are socially older than men and suffer more pressure regarding their appearance.
"Besides, aesthetic standards, ideal and unattainable, to which they are bound, are racist, sexist and classist. In other words, the female ideal remains young, white and upper-class."
The gender studies professor notes that some feminists think resorting to plastic surgery means surrendering to patriarchy. Others, however, "choose to see in cosmetic practices, make-up and surgery, a possible liberator — in the sense that it would be a way to gain more control over their bodies and, deep down, get by in a context that, unfortunately, is still misogynistic."
New York Times
As society increasingly places more value on appearance, the use of interventions such as cosmetic medicine and make-up are becoming more commonplace — and even expected. Picture: ISTOCK
IT WON’T necessarily be carried out with a scalpel. Perhaps it’ll be a syringe full of toxins. But over time, one way or another, there is a good chance you’ll resort to cosmetic medicine — especially if you’re a woman. That’s because today’s social codes make taking care of one’s appearance the least you can do.
Are social networks and the narcissistic society they produce to blame? Yes. But those aren’t the only reasons people have increasingly sought out plastic surgery. Advances in medicine and the efforts to prevent ageing are also behind this evolution. And plastic surgery has changed, with easier and less invasive procedures available.
Another contributing factor is that information about cosmetic medicine, thanks to the sharing of stories online, circulates better and contributes to making it less stigmatising and taboo: a 50-year-old woman today, in the eyes of society, doesn’t look at all like a 50-year-old woman from 50 years ago. This has put more social pressure on the women who haven’t yet resorted to it.
Collective ideas about make-up and hair dyeing have also evolved. As Marie-Thérèse Duflos-Priot explains in her article, "Le maquillage, séduction protocolaire et artifice normalisé" ("Make-up, formal seduction and standardised artifice"), cosmetics were codified along moral lines and associated with superficiality, seduction and sexuality.
...
IN THE past, make-up was forbidden for "pure" young girls and tolerated for virtuous women on condition that it was discreet — it was seen as a sign of easy virtue when applied conspicuously.
Nowadays, a woman of any age who goes make-up-free, without hiding her acne or her wrinkles, is regarded as careless. Women who don’t cover their grey hair, even after the age of retirement, are rare. This is because cosmetics have gone from being sexual to something akin to good manners, a form of politeness that consists of appearing young, in good health and at ease.
This social evolution is linked to that of medicine itself, and to health policies that made prevention one of the field’s central dimensions.
"As soon as certain individual behaviours were identified as public health problems, they became singled out," says Vincent Barras, a medical historian from the Lausanne University Hospital.
"Tobacco-prevention opened the way. Then, obesity-prevention became a priority. Feeling comfortable is also feeling attractive. We have moved from a paternalistic medicine to an era where each individual is held accountable, in the eyes of society, for the upkeep of his own health."
Today, with the demographic ageing of industrialised societies, age prevention itself seems to have become a priority. The problem is that living longer isn’t sufficient anymore. As well as feeling good, people are also expected to look it.
"With age, there’s an increasing gap between the image we have of ourselves and the image others or our mirror reflect back to us," says Pierre Quinodoz, head of the Swiss Society for Plastic, Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery. "Who hasn’t woken up in great form, only to be told by others that they looked tired or in poor shape?
"Our work contributes to the better-being of patients, because it aims to harmonise the inside image with the outside image."
At the same time, the permanent display of ourselves through social networks largely contributes to the confusion between reality and appearances.
Working on one’s own image, whether it’s through putting on make-up or resorting to plastic surgery, then becomes legitimate insofar as it contributes to psychological wellbeing.
"In a society where each individual is brought to watch, look at and take care of himself, appearance has become the measure of his own value," says Hélène Martin, a gender studies professor at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Work and Health.
...
PSYCHOLOGICAL studies support the idea that cosmetic surgery builds self-confidence. And some studies say that women, the main customers, could benefit from this type of medicine.
"The biological injustice is that, in the course of their lives, women go through hormonal changes that do a lot more damage compared to what men go through," says Quinodoz. "Our work enables them to regain confidence at an age where their social life used to be considered over."
Martin sees things as being relative.
"Women don’t age in a worse way, but their ageing is seen as uglier than for men. At the same biological age, they are socially older than men and suffer more pressure regarding their appearance.
"Besides, aesthetic standards, ideal and unattainable, to which they are bound, are racist, sexist and classist. In other words, the female ideal remains young, white and upper-class."
The gender studies professor notes that some feminists think resorting to plastic surgery means surrendering to patriarchy. Others, however, "choose to see in cosmetic practices, make-up and surgery, a possible liberator — in the sense that it would be a way to gain more control over their bodies and, deep down, get by in a context that, unfortunately, is still misogynistic."
New York Times
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