GRSJ224/MedicalizationofBeauty
Medicalization of beauty is the process by which a human's physical appearance is interpreted as a disease, and thus becomes a condition that can be diagnosed, prevented, and treated through medical means[1]. Medicalization of beauty has been driven by the lasting effects of colonization which has resulted in the construction of normalized beauty standards in reference to Western beauty norms[2].
Generally speaking, cosmetic surgery is problematic because it has turned certain beauty standards as legitimate medical goals rather than simple personal preference. Thus, the medicalization of beauty potentially puts women in risk by justifying unnecessary, and often dangerous, surgical procedures[3]. The new data released in 2018 by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) shows an overall increase of 5% in total cosmetic surgeries performed worldwide. This is a result of the medicalization of beauty as it has framed cosmetic surgery in a medical context where undergoing cosmetic procedures is normalized. This has raised ethical debates in regards to the use of cosmetic surgery as it conflicts with the traditional use of medicine that focuses on preventing and curing one's physical health rather than improving one's physical appearance[4].
This article focuses on the medicalization of beauty of Asian women's features through Western standards of beauty: other types of medicalization of beauty are excluded.
Development of the concept
Influence of colonialism
In the Western narration of the Orient, Asian-typical features were deliberately depicted as different from the West emphasizing the "otherness" of their alike features[5]. Thus, the strong notions of what's considered to be "normal" in modern day society result from a bygone era of colonial domination. The features of the Western colonizers were regarded as honourable and superior to those of Asians, hence the desired image and facial features were constructed. Evidence can be found in Western classical art where the Asian body was depicted as exotic and dominated. The illustration of Asian women as objects in paintings objectified them, further raising the dominant colonial power of the West[6]. In addition, Edward Said argued that the Western world created negative and reductionist misconceptions about the Orient that resulted in the cultural representation of Asians as inferior to the West[7].
The history of colonization has real lasting effects on bodies that manifest in cosmetic surgery. Traditionally, the proposed ideal facial ratios and facial measurements that are regarded as "normal" and "beautiful" resemble the ideals illustrated in Western classical art[8]. Therefore, the development and standardization of Western beauty ideals as the norm is largely influenced by colonialism.
Influence of Western media
Western media is a mere representation and cultural manifestation of the colonial history. Western media figures and pop-culture idols foster the development of normalized beauty standards that Asian women are continuously being held up to. This has influenced women's self-perception and increased their desire to undergo cosmetic procedures to bring them closer to these beauty standards[1]. The influence of Western media is evident in many studies of Asian patients who desire to modify their mono-lids such that it gets them closer to western patterns. For example, Asian women often request “double-eyelid” surgery, known as blepharoplasty by cosmetic surgeons, whereby “fold of skin are excised from across their upper eyelids to create a crease above each eye” making the eyes look bigger and more similar to white women[9].
Western media has increasingly promoted the idealized standards of beauty in reference to Western features as the norm[3]. Further, Western forces have encouraged and manipulated Asian women into altering their genetic characteristics, specifically their eyes and noses, to fit into an ethnocentric form, that of the West[8]. This is evident as the ISAPS reported over 1.3 million eyelid surgeries performed in 2017 alone. Western media has normalized women's decision to undergo cosmetic surgery by medicalizing the concept of beauty and framing cosmetic procedures as a treatment to a medical problem rather than an aesthetic one.
Medicalization of cosmetic surgery
Cosmetic surgery is framed in a medical context where undergoing cosmetic procedures is promoted as a necessity in order to be healthy and normal, rather than a matter of personal preference and choice[10]. Cosmetic surgery has medicalized the standardized ideals of beauty as plastic surgeons utilize medical and technical terms to problematize aesthetic features so as to characterize it as a medical condition rather than a dissatisfaction of one's physical appearance[9].
Society increasingly accepts cosmetic surgery as a means to achieve aesthetic aims[10]. This is a result of the medicalization of beauty as cosmetic surgeons describe their patients' dissatisfaction with their appearance as normal and treatable through the use of medical technology[11]. Therefore, women's psychological emotions are justified by regarding their discontent as a medical condition.
Medicalization of beauty through cosmetic surgery has normalized Asian women’s desire to undergo cosmetic procedure by emphasizing on technical and medical skills[11]. Further evidence is shown in cosmetic surgery websites and marketing brochures where there is an extensive use of medical terminology, which is often used as a means to normalize cosmetic surgeries as simple medical procedures to correct “abnormal” features[1].
Forms of medicalization of beauty
The prevalence of cosmetic surgery is as a form of medicalization of beauty, which can be classified into two different forms: beauty enhancement medicalization or treatment medicalization[3]. Regardless of the form medicalization takes, it promotes racial-typical features of Asian countries as an abnormality that can be treated through cosmetic surgery[9]. Hence, one’s physical appearance, which is biologically inherited from the parents, becomes a modifiable feature of the human body that has to fit into the beauty standards of the West, the ones that are seen as normal and healthy.
The enhancement form of medicalization is the use of medicine to achieve a certain ideal beauty standard through the surgical modifications of the body. In specific, it refers to the use of cosmetic surgery as a means to further improve one's physical appearance despite the lack of disease[3]. This form of medicalization sets standardized beauty norms as medical goals that can be attained by undergoing cosmetic surgery.
The illness form of medicalization occurs when women consider plastic surgery as the remedy for “pathologized Asian features” with respect to Western beauty standards[3]. This type of medicalization of cosmetic surgery pathologizes disliked physical features as a medical illness or disease that can be treated through surgical means. Cosmetic surgeons commonly use technical and medical terms to problematize women's lack of certain physical features as a disease, hence pathologizing one's genetic physical appearance[9].
Ethical debates
The discourse of medicalization of beauty is often problematic because it promotes cosmetic surgery as a means to achieve the normalized and standardized criteria of beauty that many Asian women face constantly. This has raised an ethical debate regarding the use of cosmetic surgery as a medical treatment because the medicalization of beauty attributes personal dissatisfaction in regards to one's physique as a real medical problem that can be solved through simple cosmetic procedures. Further, cosmetic surgeons promote the idea of medical need by medicalizing the problem and minimizing the perceptions of the risk of the procedures. This potentially disempowers women as the rising acceptance of cosmetic surgery in medicine reflects social recognition of the importance of physical appearance as a measure of one’s well-being[10].
In addition, cosmetic surgery is normative and radicalized, assisting the convergence of physical appearance to one universal white standard of beauty by facilitating the options available for women to attain this standard[8]. However, it is important to recognize that women's desire to undergo cosmetic surgery is not ethically wrong because the normalized standards of beauty is a real construct and women struggle with their physique due to these norms. Instead, the culprit is the normalized beauty standard as it is this norm that women juxtapose themselves to that really perpetuates and sustains the racism and negative stereotypes that Asian women receive. The "whiteness" of the normalized beauty standards is what created personal dissatisfaction in the first place, leading to society viewing "otherness" as a form of disease.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Merianos, A., Rebecca A. V., & Keith A. K. (2013). Medicalization of female beauty: A content analysis of cosmetic procedures. Qualitative Report, 18(46), 1–14.
- ↑ Menon, A. (2016). Reconstructing race and gender in American cosmetic surgery. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(4), 597-616.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Aquino, Y. (2017). ‘Big Eye’ Surgery: the Ethics of Medicalizing Asian Features. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 38(3), 213-225.
- ↑ Sullivan, D. (1993). Cosmetic surgery: Market dynamics and medicalization. Research in Sociology of Health Care, 10, 97-115.
- ↑ Morsy, S. A. (1991). Safeguarding Womens Bodies: The White Mans Burden Medicalized. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 5(1), 19-23.
- ↑ Kaya, Y. (2017). Orientalism – Postcolonialism and art. Idil Journal of Art and Language, 6(30), 647-665.
- ↑ Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books. 38-41.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Menon, A. (2017). Reconstructing race and gender in American cosmetic surgery, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40:4, 597-616.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Kaw, E. (1993). Medicalization of Racial Features: Asian American Women and Cosmetic Surgery. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 7(1), 74-89.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Edmonds, A. (2013). Can Medicine Be Aesthetic? Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 27(2), 233-252.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Neto, P. P., & Caponi, S. N. (2007). The 'medicalization' of beauty. Interface (Botucatu). Interface - Comunicação, Saúde, Educação,11(23), 569-584.