GRSJ224/Medicalization and Monetization of Beauty
Medicalization
In order to achieve the American cultural standards of beauty, over the past decade, countless amount of medical advancements and procedures have been added. .[1]In order to achieve the American cultural standards of beauty, over the past decade, countless amount of medical advancements and procedures have been added. .[1] The increasing demand for these procedures as brought an increase in plastic surgeons and clinics. South Korea ranked first place of the highest rate of plastic surgery per capita, with US being 6th place. Walls filled with ads and streets with five to ten clinics can be seen in Gangnam Seoul. [2]
Physical Side Effects
Although through the many years of developing a safe method of practicing plastic surgery and refining the techniques in order to produce the most minimal, unnoticeable side effects or surgery marks, physical side effects are inevitable. Ultimately each procedure is considered a single data point and is referred to as a test subject. According to a study, 780 randomly selected patients are chosen to represent the 1 million Medicare patients discharged from hospitals that die due to medical errors. Like the 1% representation whether we live or die is merely a data point for did this breast implant work, yes or no and if it failed how long did it take and what type of side effect did it show. [3] There is never going to be something that is 100% and every anomaly will be used as new data in order to create better medical techniques as well as better products.
Mental Side Effects
Addiction to plastic surgery is caused by people conceiving their body being as modifiable driving their desires to fix and perfect certain aspects that they dislike. However this becomes a psychosocial condition as they constantly want to change their bodies again and again depending on the “social model of the ideal body”. [3]. From a psychosocial condition, plastic surgery to the person becomes
Monetization
The market
The health industry in the United States is 1.668 trillion dollars.[4] in which 13.5 billion dollars were spent by Americans in a single year .[5] . 2010 U.S Plastic Surgery Statistics showed that there was a “77% increase in total procedures performed in the past decade”, resulting in more than 12.6 million procedures performed on females.[1]
Diet/Health
Over the past decade the diet/healthcare market, advertising healthier foods as well as promoting foods such as artificial sweeteners that are ‘healthier’ have been a major industry. The dietary supplements market is projected to reach 278.02 billion USD by 2024 with sports nutrition products being estimated to generate revenues worth 37.16 billion USD by 2024. Just like the drug market, there are countless amounts of research and development going on in this market which pose problems. Companies withholding data against groups like the Cochrane group as well as industry funded trials producing better results.[6] are becoming apparent in the dietary supplement market. Companies focus on selling and advertising their products, making it more desirable for the consumer to purchase, however the true medical data about the product is generally unknown.
What are the reasons?
Availability of proper information
According to Bohlman, Panzer and Kinding, “Individuals are asked to assume new roles in seeking information, advocating for their rights and privacy, understanding responsibilities, measuring and monitoring their own health and that of their community, and making decisions about insurance and options for care” .[7]
However social forces shape our understanding and actions towards health and beauty setting the foundation of our perceptions. .[8] The most common way people are exposed to new information is commonly through tv shows, websites and social media.
In 2011 ted talk Ben Goldacre a doctor specializing in unpicking dodgy pharmaceutical claims talks about battling bad science and how one of the most famous TV diet Guru Dr. Gillian McKeith who has her own prime time television show gives out lavish and exotic health advices. .[6] Perception is the most crucial aspect that is created by improper information and is what is driving the need for various enhancements and alteration of one’s physical appearance. Through the various methods of surgical and neurosurgical procedures, individuals think that they have become more ‘beautiful’ because they look a more similar to a certain social media influence, giving them more self-esteem, ultimately increasing their desire to get more surgical treatment. .[1]This is an ongoing addictive cycle which at the core has started from misleading information and social norms. With the introduction of social media and opinions being communicated all over the world, people can receive direct feedback quickly and they can physically see the characteristics of what people view as ‘beauty’.
What should we do?
Society in general has to communicate with each other regarding the true definition of beauty. Although the baseline of what men consider beauty has been set by the media, beauty should be a relative factor being different for each and every person. What one person views as beautiful does not have to necessarily mean that everyone should find it beautiful but rather be normal for people to be indifferent about it. Just like art having a wide range of characteristics and themes ranging from hyper realism to complete abstract and not everyone having to like only one type of art, beauty should be too complex in order to define what is right or wrong.
The definition and characteristics of beauty is constantly changing. Prior to 1890’s there was no negativity towards body fat, however every couple of decades there was a cycle between beauties being defined by slimness and plumpness. [9]This change in the definition of beauty is failed to be recognized by many people due to the various pressures and influences being constantly derived by society and its social media. There will always be a trend in beauty making it impossible to follow as something considered beautiful then can be not beautiful now or in the future. Rather than trying to make the ideal female body image [10] , a new trend of making a unique image should be created.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Merianos, Ashley L; Vidourek, Rebecca A; King, Keith A. The Qualitative Report; Fort Lauderdale 18.46 (Nov 18, 2013): 1-14.. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Merianos" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Marx Patrica, 2015 About Face, Why is South Korea the World’s plastic-surgery Captial?
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 James, J. T. (2013). A New, Evidence-based Estimate of Patient Harms Associated with Hospital Care. Journal of Patient Safety, 9(3), 122-128. doi:10.1097/pts.0b013e3182948a69 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "James" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ S. (2016, November 03). STATS | Health Care Industry Statistics. Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://www.statisticbrain.com/health-care-industry-statistics/
- ↑ ASAPS 2016 American Scoeity for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Reports More than 13.5 billion Spent for the First Time Ever
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Goldacre, B. (n.d.). Transcript of "Battling bad science". Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science/transcript?language=en#t-605000
- ↑ Bohlman, L. N., Panzer, A. M., & King, D. A. (2004). Health Literacy A Prescription to End Confusion. Front Matter. doi:doi: 10.17226/10883.
- ↑ Brown, P. (1995). Naming and Framing: The Social Construction of Diagnosis and Illness. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 35, 34. doi:10.2307/2626956
- ↑ stearms Peter N (1997). Fat History: Bodieas and Beauty in the Modern West.
- ↑ Edelman Helen s (1994). Why is Dolly Crying? An Analysis of Silicone Breast Implants in America as an Example of medicalization .