Plastic Surgery and Feminism: Mutually Exclusive or Totally At Odds?
By: Carisa S Thought Bubbles
Tags: Plastic Surgery, Hollywood, Feminism, Patriarchy, Women

Plastic Surgery and Feminism: Mutually Exclusive or Totally At Odds?

photo credit: Renew Facial Plastic Surgery

In my early 20s, I swore I would never get plastic surgery or minimally invasive procedures like Botox or filler because I was going to stay youthful-looking forever thanks to my clean, chemical-free, vegan lifestyle, regular exercise, and use of natural products to cleanse my face. Oh how naive, slightly arrogant, and overly confident I was. Little did I know that moving from sea level Southern California to the mile high state of Colorado with my fair skin, infrequent use of sunscreen, and zest for the outdoors would significantly age me.

As I neared 30, I started noticing changes in my face that made me look older than I felt, and the face that use to be so photogenic didn’t look so photogenic anymore. The subtle line between my eyebrows, the crows feet around the corners of my eyes, the thin lips that once were plump, and the loss of volume under my eyes had me feeling pretty insecure. The misguided beliefs I held regarding how I would defy the aging process came crashing down and I was desperate to find a solution. I tried a variety of supplements, applied multiple, daily rounds of sunscreen, and purchased a plethora of different serums including vitamin c, ferulic acid, retinol and Retin A, and salicylic acid to no avail. The damage had been done and I was open to trying anything that would help me look more like myself.

Since then, I have received two rounds of chemical peels, multiple rounds of Botox in between my eyes and around my crows feet, and filler placed under my eyes and in my lips. I also plan on getting laser treatments to tighten my skin and a nose job to help my nose look more balanced with the rest of my face like it did when I was 20. I can honestly say I feel like myself again, my confidence is through the roof, and I am incredibly happy to be able to look as young as I feel. I mean, I’m only 30 and I still have a lot of fun, young adult experiences ahead of me.

Despite how happy I am with my results, several well-intentioned friends and family have told me I need to be “happy in my own skin” and that I need to “embrace myself as I am,” as if to say that me wanting to modify the way I look means that I do not love myself. I have also been questioned about how much of a feminist I truly am when I am “so” focused on my physical appearance rather than on things that are inherently more important like traveling or being creative. I will admit that my desire to look youthful and have a face that is more symmetrical stems from a Western standard of beauty that is hyper-focused on women’s appearance to a degree that men, as a whole, do not experience. But is modifying my face to fit a cultural ideal of beauty inherently antifeminist? Is embracing my genetic predisposition to become wrinkled and lose volume in my face a prerequisite for being body positive, possessing high self-esteem, and having a healthy relationship with myself? Can modifying my appearance, whether it be for the pursuit of youth, symmetry, or the desire to enhance my features be an act of self-expression and by-proxy pro-feminist, or are the two concepts inherently in opposition with one another?

Historically, women’s worth has been intimately tied to their appearance in a way that it has not been for men. This can clearly be seen in Hollywood mainstream films, where older men are routinely cast with love interests that are decades younger than them, and men older than 40 can still have extremely successful careers. Women, on the other hand, are rarely cast with younger men, and after the age of 40, either disappear from the movie screen entirely or play the roles of mothers and grandmothers.

Although this gender bias is slowly changing thanks in part to the #MeToo Movement, which brought awareness to the unequal treatment of women; streaming companies such as Netflix and Hulu that allow for more interesting stories to be told; and the many strong talented female actors such as Reese Witherspoon, Amy Schumer, Mindy Kaling, Kerry Washington, and Jane Fonda, who are using their influence to create and star in shows that tell interesting stories about women over 35, we still have a long ways to go. Interestingly enough, most of these women pushing the envelope look younger than they actually are, thanks to the widespread use of surgical and non-surgical procedures that most if not all celebrities in Hollywood use.

Women in Hollywood have the ability to look 30ish well into their 50s, so although the paradigm of sexist agism is shifting in the notoriously male-dominated movie industry, many of these women do not look old in the same way that men in this same industry are permitted to look. And seeing as how Hollywood culture in many respects embodies the cultural ideals of the Western world, I think it is safe to assume these same sentiments can be superimposed onto the daily lives of the average American.

It is no surprise that continuously watching movies, shows, news, and scrolling through social media would play a role in the desire to get cosmetic procedures. According to the Chicago Tribune, when surgeons were surveyed about why their clients sought plastic surgery, 97% said that celebrities had influenced their clients’ desire to modify their faces via plastic surgery. Further, according to Wiener, a plastic surgeon who spoke with the Chicago Tribune, patients show him selfies during their consultations and say, “When I post something and look at what I posted, I don’t like what I’m seeing.” I can attest that when comparing my current photos to the ones I am constantly exposed to via social media or even when comparing them to the photos I took in my late teens and early twenties, I am not liking what I see either.

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FACTS

In 2019, 92% of all cosmetic procedures in the United States were done on females with 1.5 million of these procedures being surgical and 13.4 million being minimally invasive. The top five surgical procedures were breast augmentation, liposuction, eyelid surgery, nose reshaping, and face lift; while the top minimally invasive procedures included: botulism, filler, chemical peels, laser hair removal, and intense puled light (IPL) treatment. That is a lot of body modification taking place!

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So if plastic surgery is predominately used to treat signs of aging, create symmetry, and enhance features like the breasts, butt, or lips, all of which can be linked with sexist agism and Western culture’s hyper-focus on women’s bodies and beauty, is there anyway that plastic surgery could be empowering and pro-feminist?

The objectification of women as sexual objects and the portrayal of women as “sexy” in service of the male gaze can be seen in countless movies, music videos, and commercials (remember those Carl’s Jr. commercials with scantily clad women washing cars while seductively eating a burger?). Although women are still engaging in explicitly “sexy” behaviors and wearing revealing clothing, a la Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion in the notoriously sizzling WAP music video, it feels different. The impression I get when watching the WAP music video, for example, is that Cardi and Megan dressed and danced the way they did because they wanted to, not because they had to, and that feels distinctively different than in years past. There are also plenty of celebrities, such as Billie Eilish, who choose not to dress that way and their decision in no way affects their ability to remain relevant or be successful. I also think of Taylor Swift, who chooses to dress in a way that expresses her creative headspace that coincides with her albums rather than out of a need to dress seductively in order to keep her records selling. The fundamental difference between then and now is not the clothes these celebrities choose to wear or the behaviors they decide to engage in, the difference lies in the fact that they are choosing to dress and behave in a certain way as a form of self-expression, rather than for the approval of society or out of a need to stay relevant, and that feels inherently feminist to me.

The same can be said about plastic surgery and minimally invasive procedures like Botox and fillers. If modifying your body or face to look more youthful, symmetrical, or enhanced makes you feel empowered and you are doing it because you want to do it, rather than for the approval of society, that is feminism at its finest. I realize we have a long ways to go before we are truly equal and I understand that women, especially in Hollywood, still experience a hyper-focus on their appearance to a degree that men do not, but I think there is space where we can be both aware of the origins that spurred the development of plastic surgery, while also continuing to choose to modify our bodies because it is something we want for ourselves. Truthfully, I am tired of society shaming women for what they choose to do with their bodies. Leave us alone and let us be free to be ourselves in anyway we choose.

References

https://www.plasticsurgery.org/documents/News/Statistics/2019/plastic-surgery-statistics-full-report-2019.pdf

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/mind-the-movie-age-gap-hollywood-has-a-habit-of-casting-leading-older-men-with-20something-women-a3111701.html