Magazine Manipulation: Reason For Cosmetic Surgery
The concept of beauty has been present in our world for countless generations. Pleasure and satisfaction found in persons, animals, and things existed in the age of the Egyptians, like among the technical writing system of hieroglyphs. Beauty can be seen in the symmetry and proportion of Greek architecture or among the rediscovery of classical philosophy in Renaissance Europe. It can even be found among concepts such as colonialism, where the Eurocentric views of dominate white culture imposed their ideas of society and government onto other nations, for they thought of 'others' as flawed. Although the days of colonialism have passed, I think that it can still be perceived in the manipulation of media throughout our world today. The Western media typically presents dominate ideologies of beauty norms, where specific physical characteristics are admired and deemed as perfection. These precise physical characteristics of Western beauty usually include: fairer skin, an hourglass figure, a soft and feminine attitude, and skin that is youthful and flawless. Due to these Western ideological beauty standards, women consider using the technology of cosmetic surgery to 'normalize' their appearance, ease their psyche from constant surveillance, and feel 'accepted' into society. I will begin my essay by briefly outlining the development of cosmetic surgery. I am going to demonstrate how the female body parts of the breasts, stomach, and buttocks/thighs are exploited on magazine covers. Then I will demonstrate the types of cosmetic procedures women undergo to adhere to these particular body parts. Finally, I will note the visual changing techniques magazines use to create beauty norms that are unattainable by all women because these ideals in reality do not exist.
For many individuals, the term plastic surgery assumes the definition of surgical procedures that are performed on the body to enhance or modify appearances for purposes of achieving the perfection of beauty. Although this description reigns true, plastic surgery is the umbrella term used to generalize two different procedures that fall under this category. The first type of procedure is reconstructive surgery, which focuses on the correction of illness or disease, whether it is to repair body parts after severe accidents or birth defects or to perform skin grafts after severe burns (Dictionary. com). Reconstructive procedures are the oldest form of plastic surgery, having been employed during the First and Second World War for treating wounded soldiers. Improved medical assistance for skeletal injuries, nerve damages, and orthopedic wounds were already available to aid in healing the massive amounts of casualties from bombs and trench warfare, but there was a need for a physician who skilled in facial repairs (Grogono 2). Widely considered as the father of reconstructive surgery, Harold Delf Gillies specialized in ear, nose, and throat surgery and could tend to the demands of care needed in those areas (ibid). After the Battle of the Somme, for example, soldiers entered with 'half their faces or jaws shot away, where suffocation, sepsis, gangrene, and haemorrhage were constant threats' (2-3). Gillies tackled these casualties by constructing skin flaps on their nose, mouth, eyelids, and ears, restoring soldiers' faces by transferring tissue from one body part to another (3). The success of the skin flap procedures allowed Gillies to continue performing these techniques even well into World War Two; however when the war reached its end, Gilles and many other surgeons were searching for ways to further legitimize their practice, as there was no war to generate patients. Consequently, they created a worldwide trend in marketing surgical procedures for specific groups of individuals, like women, developing the second type of procedure in plastic surgery.
Unlike reconstructive surgery, cosmetic surgery is not intended for the purposes of restoring function in the body, instead it is a procedure performed on patients to make them appear younger or to enhance their appearance (Dictionary. com). The existence of cosmetic procedures depends on the cultural ideology of achieving the perfection of beauty norms in order to avoid the judgement of others, thus becoming 'a technology through which the body is normalized' (Hogle 11). Normalization within the context of cosmetic surgery works in the very same way as Michel Foucault's argument on surveillance. He extensively used the example of the panopticon to describe the function of surveillance as having a 'perpetual 'gaze' of an unverifiable observer situated inside the panoptic tower, [projecting] upon the person sitting in a cell, [rendering] a prisoner docile' (Gordon 6). Prisoners are constantly monitoring themselves, ensuring that they maintain good behaviour for the unknown fear of police surveillance that could potentially discipline them if they do not adhere to the rules. Similarly, women continuingly observe their appearance and use technologies like cosmetic surgery to help them correspond to specific beauty norms to evade from 'not fitting in. ' However, an even greater influence of surveillance on women is the ideological information about beauty that is being disseminated by the mass media. Women are frequently being reminded by media representations that they need to consume certain fitness plans, diets, and cosmetic surgery in order to help them achieve the media's standards of appearance (Adams 3-4). Hence, the reason why women make choices like spending thousands of dollars on cosmetic surgery in turn of escaping scrutiny from the media and 'feeling bad' about themselves. Throughout my research, I found that the most common types of beauty standards represented by the media for women were concerning the breasts, stomach, and buttocks or thighs, which when operated together creates the perfect image of the 'hourglass' figure. Fashion magazines, especially the front covers, have primarily been conceived as the main form of medium that conveys exploitive messages to women about particular beauty norms about the female breast. In Vogue, for example, it is not uncommon to notice that fashion photography has bluntly featured models with sexual poses of eye squinting, open mouths, and leg spreading (Crane 6). The model's body is usually pictured as 'partially nude, with their breasts more likely than the clothing to be the focus of the photographs' (7).
The first attached cover is of Adriana Lima on an issue in Vogue. She is photographed with her hair softly pulled away from her chest and onto her back, squinting her eyes, while slightly pursing her lips open, as she drapes her hand over to which looks as if she is either holding her dress up or aiding in pulling the dress down. Lima does not look as if she is advertising the dress, but selling a beauty standard to women about how their breasts ought to look. The cover articulates that in order for women to look 'normal' they need to obtain large and evenly proportionate breasts and only then can they be accepted into society. This idea is represented even further by the caption, 'mas sexy' which translates to 'sexiest,' written under Lima's breasts. The caption provides the added meaning that women can only be termed sexy if they possess a larger exterior. It also suggests that breasts are a woman's only defining feature, neglecting to view women as more than just a physical object, but an intellectual stimulating being as well. Women reading magazines like Vogue receive the message that their current appearance is unacceptable by the media's standards, so they agree to procedures like cosmetic surgery in order to fulfill the media's certain image.
Breast augmentations are popular cosmetic procedures that women undergo when they want to increase their breasts size, using either silicone-gel breast implants or inflatable saline breast implants (Brown 2). Rather than using clothing or undergarments specifically geared in helping women play on their features, breast augmentation surgery offers women a permanent solution to enlarging their breasts. In this way, instead of just temporarily portraying a particular look, women can actually embody and physically have larger breasts. Breast augmentation now becomes a process in which women feel that it becomes a part of them and that they are finally expressing an aspect of themselves that they were always meant to have. However, despite this feeling, women need to understand that breast augmentation does not come without risks.
Although studies have shown that breasts augmentations do not increase the chance of breast cancer, it does increase the risk of other types of cancers like, vulvar and lung cancer (4). There is also a higher risk of tissue and nerve damage or connective tissue disease in women who have had implants (2). In terms of infant feeding, women with implants can still breastfeed their child, but they could experience some functional difficulties in the lactiferous duct, the structure which carries milk, and the nerves of the nipple (ibid). Regardless of potential malfunction, breast augmentation remains as a common alternative to women's bodies, proving that women are still manipulated by media messages to follow through with implant procedures in the name of beauty and acceptance. Furthermore, women are also continuingly influenced to monitor their waistline.
The cultural ideology of thinness is frequently represented in fitness magazines, where diet and exercise become the main topics of discussion in hope of helping women achieve a perfectly toned body. Fitness magazines such as Shape deeply demonstrate how constructions of the ideal weight and the ideal woman are interconnected (Boero 5). Moreover, these magazines also connect 'ideals about weight with norms in other areas of women's existence, including motherhood and sexual norms' (ibid). Pink, who covers an issue of Shape, advertises the beauty standard of a tight figure, rather than generating awareness for controversial women's health issues. Her stomach becomes the focus of the cover, as she pulls up her shirt to reveal her subtle muscle tone. Pink's stomach is additionally emphasized by the two captions that state, 'Whittle you middle' and 'Pink on her rockin' post-baby bod. ' This emphasizes to women that in order for them to achieve normalization and acceptance, they have to shed off any excess weight that they have gained from poor diet and exercise or pregnancy. It belittles women into objects, urging them to maintain their 'middle' for the sake of finding 'Mr. Right,' their husbands, or their baby. It presents the idea that no man wants a woman who is not skinny, that no husband wants a woman who does not bounce back to their figure, and no child wants a mother who is not a healthy parent.
In turn of pleasing others, women will attempt to lose weight through diet and exercise, but sometimes these methods are not enough, so women spend money on cosmetic procedures to aid them in accomplishing their goal. In regions like, the abdomen, thighs, and buttocks, liposuction operation can remove excess fat from these bodily areas. When women feel that diet and exercise can no longer assist them in trimming their bodies, especially around the areas of their hips and stomach, women resort to liposuction to help them lose the weight. Unfortunately, women tend to be misinformed about the implications surrounding liposuction because 'it can not help women who have health problems exacerbated by their weight. It does not result in weight loss. It changes only appearance, and only in certain areas of the body' (Endor 2). While removing excess fat results in some weight loss, women need to continue maintaining a healthy diet in order to permanently keep the weight off. Liposuction also does not develop muscle tone in the body, so it is left to the woman to build up a firmer figure through exercise. This procedure also does little to change shape, areas can be made thinner, but the actual form of that area stays the same, as does the woman's figure as a whole. Lack of knowledge about these issues cause women to undergo liposuction procedures over and over again, thinking that the more and more liposuction they receive, the better it will help them reach their desired body. And moreover, every time that women do not see the results that they were hoping for, their self-esteem deceases even deeper, wondering why they can not submerge to the media's beauty norm. The final widespread standard that women feel obliged to achieve is the ideals of the buttocks and thighs. As high fashion magazines state 'the ideal woman appears prepubescent, childlike, she can be considered asexual; her desires and appetites safety controlled and tucked away, all with designer stilettos and long bare legs' (Cohen 3).
The second picture attached presents Charlize Theron on the cover of another Vogue issue. The large slit in her dress draws in the reader's attention to focus on her long and lean legs. Though at the same time, she represents a kind of elegance and poise as she sits on the couch subtly crossing her legs. This image of Theron emphasizes to the reader that women need to embody beautifully long legs to facilitate a feminine and graceful personality. The caption, 'Easy chic,' extends this idea by implying that if women had Theron's 'set' of legs; it is easy to appear attractive and well-dressed. The high slit in her dress also brings attention to her buttocks and leaves the audience wondering and imaging how toned it must appear, especially considering how fit her legs are. Furthermore, this cover expresses the control that women must adhere to. Women must not be overly promiscuous, but neither a prude, she needs to find the right balance between being considered sexy and respectable at the same time. As a result of this representation, women can turn to extremes like specific cosmetic procedures to improve their image.
Similar to the cosmetic surgeries mentioned in the previous paragraphs, women can get buttocks augmentations to enhance their buttocks and liposuction on their thighs to make them slimmer. Again, women undergo these types of procedures to normalize themselves based on the expectations that the media creates through fashion magazines. In order to facilitate confidence, women need to follow particular beauty norms and feel as if they are being accepted into society.
Enhancing one's buttocks or thinning one's thighs ensures that women can look better in the jeans that they wear by creating a curvy yet shapely and toned look. In addition, if women are wearing a dress, they are able to show off their long and lean legs rather than having to hide them. This notion suggests that only certain 'types' of women can wear certain styles of clothing. As long as a woman possesses a specific 'pair' of legs, they are allowed to wear clothing that is a little (but not too much) revealing because they have the shape for it. Moreover, it also presumes that only woman who appear to have legs as such are able to feel confident in themselves, completely ignoring that there are other aspects of a woman that can make them feel proud. Although the media presents these beauty expectations to women, it is important to remember that magazines use specific techniques to produce these beauty norms.
The examples described in this essay prominently appear on the front of magazine covers, so the topic of media manipulation that will be illustrated is this section is the violation of images in magazines. The models or celebrities used and the layout of the magazine covers never in reality pose an advertisement for a particular product to the reader. Instead, 'the magazines of today are over-designed and under-directed, interpreting and expressing the message of the magazine in visual terms. The designer is an arranger; making a beautiful layout of the looks, not the meaning' (Antupit 7 ). This is why techniques such as air-brushing and re-touching are used on individuals who are featured on the cover of magazines. Pertaining to the Vogue covers, they are not selling the clothes that the models/celebrities are wearing, but a specific beauty standard emphasized through their subtle placement of the clothes their wearing or the position in their bodies. They exaggerate this arrangement by making the individual's breasts fuller or their legs more slender and remove any marks upon the body such as, freckles or birth marks, to make the body on the cover seem even more perfect. The Shape cover also uses these techniques by advertising muscle toning in women's bodies, rather than practical ways of living a healthy lifestyle. Magazines manipulate that image by highlighting and contouring certain parts of the individual's body (especially the stomach) to accentuate the beauty norm of having a fit body. Furthermore, word placements are also manipulated on magazine covers; for certain words or phrases are purposely placed on the front cover or beside certain body parts to stress the beauty standard not only in images, but also in words. Air-brushing and re-touching techniques not only signify to the audience that they need to adhere to particular beauty norms, but it also demonstrates that the models/celebrities on the cover of magazines need to conform to the media's standards as well. This shows that the individuals on the covers also do not live up to the media's beauty expectations because they need to be 'altered' through visual manipulation of re-touching and air-brushing. It shows how impossible and ridiculous the beauty norms of the media can be, for even the models/celebrities that are supposed to meet up to their expectations, in reality can not. The media clearer creates expectations of beauty that no woman can actually meet up to.
Through the medium of magazines, women receive messages of Western beauty ideals through the arrangement of words and images on the cover. The three most popular norms that are presented by magazines to women are concerning the breasts, stomach, buttocks and thighs. Women are portrayed the idea that they need to have larger and fuller breasts in order to be accepted by the media's standard and in turn accepted by society. This is illustrated when magazine cover features models or celebrities that show barely clothed breasts. As a result of this image, women feel as if the media is 'watching' them by depicting what they should be aiming to look like. Hence, women undergo breast augmentation to increase the size of their breasts, adhering to the beauty norm of fulfilling a larger chest. The same is issued with the stomach, as women are pressured into feeling that they need to obtain a fit and toned body in order to feel confident and accepted by society. Liposuction is a common procedure that women do as a last resort when diet and exercise fails. Finally, the buttocks and thigh are also criticized by the media for a woman should, according to magazine covers, have a proportioned and slender lower body. Though again, if a women is unable to achieve that then there are the cosmetic surgeries of buttocks augmentation and liposuction to aid in fulfilling that look. The media creates unrealistic expectations for women to conform to, especially since the individuals on the covers are not able to adhere to them. Those women also need air-brushing and re-touching in order to fulfill the beauty norms of the media. This depicts that the there is no beauty norm to measure up to because the illustrations that they are created fake.
