Regular marked price: $19.95Discount Price: $15.56
Cost Savings: $4.39 (22%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 617.9520973
EAN num: 9780813540481
ISBN number: 0813540488
Label: Rutgers University Press
Manufacturer: Rutgers University Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 203
Printing Date: May 15, 2007
Publishing house: Rutgers University Press
Sale Popularity Level: 426525
Studio: Rutgers University Press
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The ease of accessibility, improvements in safety and technology, media attention, growing acceptance by the public, or an increasingly superficial culture: whatever the reason, cosmetic surgery is more popular yesterday than ever. In 2005, in the United States alone, there were nearly two million aesthetic operations - more than quadruple the number from 1984, along with more than eight million nonsurgical procedures. Innovative surgical methods have also brought cosmetic improvements to new areas of the body, such as the ribs, buttocks, and genitalia. Despite the increasing normalization of cosmetic surgery, however, there are still those who identify individuals who opt for bodily modifications as dupes of beauty culture, as being in conflict with feminist ideals, or as having some form of psychological weakness. In this groundbreaking book, Victoria Pitts-Taylour examines why we consider some cosmetic surgeries to be acceptable or even beneficial and others to be unacceptable and possibly harmful. Similarly, why are some patients considered to be psychologically healthy while others deemed pathological? When is the modification of our appearance empowering and when is it a sign of weakness? Drawing on years of research, her personal experience with cosmetic surgery, analysis of newspaper articles and television shows, and in-depth interviews with surgeons, psychiatrists, lawyers, judges, and others, Pitts-Taylour brings new perspectives to the promotion of 'extreme' makeovers on television, the medicalization of 'surgery addiction,' the moral and political interrogation that many patients face, and feminist debates on the topic. While many feel that cosmetic surgery is a deeply personal choice and that its pathology is rooted in the individual psyche, Pitts-Taylour makes a compelling argument that the experience, meanings, and motivations for cosmetic surgery are highly social. A much needed 'makeover' of our cultural understanding of cosmetic surgery, this book is both authoritative and thoroughly engaging.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
Every woman who opts to have cosmetic surgery is likely to incite a variety of knee-jerk reactions regarding her choice and what it says about her. Take, for example, Ashlee Simpson's decision to undergo rhinoplasty, which transformed her nose (and, in turn, her entire appearance) to be more in line with mainstream standards of beauty. Opinions about Ashlee's surgery depicted her simultaneously as vain; as a victim of Hollywood beauty ideals who was duped into changing herself from a unique person into a clone; as a smart consumer who needed to change her ugly nose; and as a free agent who should be left alone to do whatever she wants to her body.
In Surgery Junkies, Victoria Pitts-Taylour addresses these conflicting views and their origins - including feminist theory, psychiatry, television shows, the media, and the cosmetic surgery industry itself. In deconstructing the discourses around cosmetic surgery, she aims to show that the meanings assigned to it are socially constructed and always changing, not fixed and tied to something specific and static within each patient. She is particularly interested in the portrayals and perceptions of women who are seen as "extreme" patients or "junkies" because of the number or nature of the procedures they choose to have. One topic she covers is the perspective, voiced by cosmetic surgeons and reinforced by the reality show Extreme Makeover, that cosmetic surgery is a logical way for people to change the way they look on the outside to match how they feel on the inside, thus creating or restoring their "true" selves. Another chapter covers the medicalization of surgery addiction in the form of the psychiatric diagnosis Body Dysmorphia Disorder (BDD).
Surgery Junkies concludes with a short but illuminating account of the author's own cosmetic surgery experience, a rhinoplasty she had while in the process of writing the book. In sharing her experiences of interacting with cosmetic surgeons and dealing with a range of (predominantly negative) reactions to her surgery, she helps readers better understand her argument that cosmetic surgery should not be thought of as related solely to the existing traits and pathologies of the patients themselves, but rather as part of a complex and continually changing social and cultural framework. Overall, Surgery Junkies is a thorough, well-written and important book with the potential to change the way we think about cosmetic surgery and, in particular, the people who choose to have it.
Find other books like this one:
