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Women and the Knife: Cosmetic Surgery and the Colonization of Women's Bodies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Kathryn Pauly Morgan
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Abstract

The paper identifies the phenomenal rise of increasingly invasive forms of elective cosmetic surgery targeted primarily at women and explores its significance in the context of contemporary biotechnology. A Foucauldian analysis of the significance of the normalization of technologized women's bodies is argued for. Three “Paradoxes of Choice” affecting women who “elect” cosmetic surgery are examined. Finally, two Utopian feminist political responses are discussed: a Response of Refusal and a Response of Appropriation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Hypatia , Volume 6 , Issue 3: Special Issue: Feminism and the Body , Fall 1991 , pp. 25 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 by Hypatia, Inc.

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