Course talk:Medicalization of Female Beauty through Cosmetic Surgery

It was an easy-read and a very interesting topic. I liked how you brought consequences when you start to have cosmetic surgery, and how you touched on Korea and Iran's situation with cosmetic surgery. Also, having videos related to the topic was a nice idea, I could better understand what information you intended to provide. I would really like to see more information on this issue, like how in other parts of the world countries differ in their view of cosmetic surgery, how women's acceptance to cosmetic surgery in pursuit of "female beauty" come from, and if it is statistically true, how women are more prone to accept cosmetic surgeries than men. Overall, I think you have made quite an accomplishment!

I really enjoyed reading your wiki page, it’s very cohesive, clean, well-organized and insightful. Plastic surgery is one of the most controversial topics nowadays since the demand for beauty grows every day. People become more and more addicted to it. I agree with the point that the more cosmetic procedures enable people to change their appearance the more it distorts social standards of beauty. Also, I like your point about “need vs. want” because I think it very important to differentiate those two when it comes to plastic surgery. However, I also agree that sometimes the want becomes a social need because as was said before societies perspectives of beauty are changing.

Hello Talya,

I was reading through the table of contents and your wiki page really grabbed my attention. The concept of medicalization of female beauty has been popular for a while, and to address the societal standards of what beauty is and how it changes the norm of beauty through cosmetic surgery is very interesting and important for cultures today. I think your organization of the wiki page is great because comparing the needs and wants are complex. For example, cosmetic surgery in South Korea has become so popular and common, that females will refer to themselves "needing" double eye-lid surgeries because the majority has them. This emphasizes the current cultural trends in what beauty is, and it even changes what the word "needs" and "wants" mean. I think your subheading on how it distorts the societal standards of what beauty is, captures the impacts of cosmetic surgery on the society. Perhaps, you could add more detail on how the media influences these needs and wants? Overall, I think you portrayed the ideas of medicalization for the assignment quite well!

Hi Talya,

When I first saw your topic, it did not seem unfamiliar as South Korean who lived at Korea more than 10 years. I knew cosmetic surgery is well known at Korea, but by reading your wiki page, I realize also at Iran cosmetic surgery is common. I strongly agree with your argument saying that cosmetic surgery could define as 'wants' not 'need', but the choice is forced by social demands and how society reacts to beauty. Every summer, most of my Korean friends who I met at Canada, always concerned to get plastic surgery when they go back to Korea at summer break. Most of them failed by fear, but I always felt sad even considering it, although they knew it is painful and scary. Also, I think it would be better to put reactions of feminism towards “lookism” since mostly pressure of appearance is towards female, and feminist will have acts to break those stress. I was also had follow-up question while reading your wiki page how government reacts to this; does they opposition to plastic surgery, or do they use it?

Hi Talya,

I am actually quite fond of your topic as I always find myself being fascinated by the different procedures that people are opting for. I like your format but I would suggest using the wiki tools more effectively. For example, you can get rid of the definitions section and perhaps make use of external links and footnotes. That would make your page more polished. In terms of media incorporation, I think your page looks quite catchy. Coming down to content, I think it would have been more interesting if you had perhaps talked about how the mass media is influencing the want vs need to get plastic surgery. Since we live in the digital era, I think it would have been great to connect the two variables and make a valuable discussion out of that. Furthermore, I would also love to see a little bit more of an expansion on the social and economic implications and these surgeries as well as the extent to which people can go.

Hi Talya,

I really like your topic, and I think you did an amazing job writing this page. I especially liked it that you provided links to youtube videos for more clarification. I've got some suggestions for you. I think it might be better if you omit the "definition" heading, and just try to define terms such as "medical consumerism" under the "Medical Consumerism: Cosmetic Surgery" heading. Another suggestion that I have is to use "Sub-heading 1" for "Who", "Why" and "Example" under the heading of "Female Cosmetic Surgery: Who and Why?". Finally, since we covered breast cancer in this course you could also include a section to address plastic surgery among breast cancer survivors.