Preview

Cosmetic Surgery and the Media

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
347 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cosmetic Surgery and the Media
Research Topic: Myths of Cosmetic Surgery. Cosmetic Surgery and the Media in South Korea.

The media has had so much of an impact on our society that plastic surgery is no longer a rare condition. ‘‘The media communicates its messages through images which tyrannize our realities. No matter how much we try to control our bodies, we cannot hope to match the illusion on the screen’’ (Kim L. Bissel, 2009). Moreover, our culture does, in fact, obsess over this idea of a perfect body image (Fifield, A., 2008). For instance, the Korean example of perfect body image is european look - Light skin, tiny nose, wide eyes with double lids, and a small face with a V-shaped chin (Holliday, R., and Elfving Hwang, J., 2009).

Hock (2013) claims that the willingness of women population in South Korea to do cosmetic surgery is caused by the impact of the media. The most surprising issue of the media influence is the fact that this is considered unattainable beauty. Unattainable beauty is found when we compare ourselves to computer-generated model (Jung, J., 2012). As a known fact, nowadays european appearance is considered an ideal look for models (International Survey on Aesthetic/Cosmetic Procedures Performed in 2011). Hence, South Korean women consider making surgery procedures in order to get european features or, as it is called ‘‘unattainable beauty’’.

Working bibliography
Holliday, R., Elfving-Hwang, J. (2012). Gender, Globalization and Aesthetic Surgery in South Korea. Body and Society, 18: 58.

Hock, S. (2013) ‘‘Making the Cut: How the Cosmetic Surgery is Transforming our Lives’’, Economist Daily Chart. London: Reaction, 12:34

Jung, J. and Lee, Y. (2012) ‘‘Cross Cultural Examination of Women’s Fashion and Beauty Magazine Advertisements in the United States and South Korea’’, Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology 2(3):7-8

Kim, L. Bissel and Jee, Y. (2009) ‘‘Americanized Beauty? Predictors of perceived

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Jeannette Francis explains how “South Korea has the highest rate of cosmetic procedures per capita in the world” and it is due to the K-Pop Effect. K-Pop is Korean pop music that features guy singing groups and girl singing groups that are “known for their …trend setting fashion and flawless faces; those big eyes, high noses and slim jawlines - features not inherently Korean.” K-Pop idols are “also known for the amount of plastic surgery they get” and the influence they portray to their teenage admirers to be just like them. Jeannette Francis also includes the story of a girl who received cosmetic surgery as a graduation gift from her parents.…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today’s modern culture, many men and women suffer from a variety of psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety and anorexia. Many of these psychological disorders can be prevented if society did not have preset standards for us to follow. For example, our society from an early age tells us that all women have to have a slim waist and be curvy. The controversial issues amongst women and their outward appearance can be found in “The Ugly Truth About Beauty” by Dave Barry as well as “The Pitfalls of Plastic surgery” Camille Paglia. In these two essays both writers put an emphasis on how the media often demoralize women by having preset standards of beauty, that threaten the female identity.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Davis argues that cosmetic surgery is not about subscribing to popular standards of beauty, but about performing a more coherent identity. It is about…

    • 3029 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women these days are constantly being reminded of who is beautiful and what defines beauty. The media and beauty industries have an imperative role in their advertising to promote impossible standards of beauty in society. Many studies have been done to show the effects of the media on beauty image for women. These studies show the effect of media on women today by noting the increasing rate of plastic surgery and how the media negatively affect the woman’s self-image. In 2008 a report that was prepared by the Young Woman’s Christian Association (YWCA) titled “Beauty at Any Cost,” the report stated that the beauty industry is a 7 billion dollar business, that there are 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures combined.…

    • 967 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cosmetic surgery represents the latest trend in medicalization in which doctors are using their knowledge and the newest technology to tackle appearance issues that many individuals face. Within current American society, there is a normalization of cosmetic surgery occurring among women in particular. As society's standards about beauty change, women are increasingly finding themselves wanting to conform to such standards no matter what the cost may be. These surgical procedures are being used to materialize gender norms through the remodeling of women's bodies. These women who go under the knife try to match themselves to seemingly impracticable standards, standards that enforce conformity to a binary gender system. Cosmetic surgery is a life changing event; the effects of altering the human body does not merely stop when the procedure is over. America's visual culture as well as the new developments within the field of medicine has allowed women to willingly participate in cosmetic surgery and disfigure their bodies so they can more closely resemble society's standards of beauty.…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Race Class and Gender

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In “Finding My Eye-Dentity”, Olivia Chung, a Korean female, was being pressured to get a surgery on her eyelids to look more like a ‘beautiful Korean’. “You know your aunt? She used to have beany eyes just like you! She used to put on white or black eyeliner very morning to make them look BIG. Then she went to Korea and got the surgery done. Now look! She looks so much better! Don’t you want it done? I would do it …” (p485). Many females are in the need to perfect their bodies, similar to the models and actresses they see on the televisions and magazines. Olivia thought about going with her mother’s suggestion, but wanted to see if there was another way of getting the crease in her eyelids. Magazines such as Seventeen or CosmoGIRL magazine persuade their readers that you must have a certain look to be beautiful. Proclamations made like this, are the reasons why females strive to modify everything about them. Although, Olivia almost went through with her mother’s suggestion, she did not. On the other hand, Olivia kept her non-crease eyelids the way they are. “I remember feeling a confused hurt, realizing that I looked…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Regardless of gender, plastic surgery is now becoming more and more widely accepted all over the world. Enhancing beauty used to be a feminine thing but in the modern times, it is now starting to become a part of global norms. Celebrities from Hollywood and local artists in different countries are now openly admitting their beauty transformation from cosmetic surgery. These celebrities play a great role in normalizing cosmetic surgery and making it a necessary procedure to transform one’s personality.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The media affects society’s perception of beauty in many ways. When models in media publications are photoshopped to perfection and their hair and makeup is done by professionals for hours, it creates an unrealistic expectation for the average person. The media seems to alter the world’s perception of beauty by using photoshop, whitewashing, and encouraging ridiculously fit body-types. Photoshop is one the of most common tools used in media that forms society’s definition of beauty. The article “Faking Beauty” says, “‘Photoshopping, especially as it’s related to children and adolescents, gives them an unrealistic expectation of what they might expect to look like as they grow up’”…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Media and Body Image

    • 1083 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Women around the world, from different age groups and cultures share a common problem; they are not happy with their appearances. Most images of ideal beauty imposed by various media devices make women feel that they do not meet the cultural or social standard. "Women are, taught to see their bodies in parts, and to evaluate each part separately. Breasts, feet, hips, waistline, neck, eyes, nose, complexion, hair, and so on-each in turn is submitted to an anxious, fretful, often despairing scrutiny." (Sontag) Women see magazines from cover to cover in which unrealistically beautiful and skinny girls are collaged on ever single page. Body image is greatly affected by the mass media 's portrayal of the thin ideal body type.…

    • 1083 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Thesis: Provide a broad overview of the history, future, benefits, and controversies of cosmetic surgery.…

    • 1982 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    America's True Beauty

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages

    More and more people are getting cosmetic surgery each and everyday. The popularity of beauty can be dangerous to people who are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve beauty to the fullest. Plastic surgery has not only become a want or need to some people, but an addiction. They will go above and beyond to do whatever it takes to find the best surgeon in the United States. “It is a troubling case study of how American culture grapples with techniques designed for therapy that can be used to fulfill our personal desire” (Rosen). Cosmetic surgery is also in denial of aging because women tend to “lift” their face with botox to make wrinkles and blemishes…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    These kinds of shows, combined with the seemingly flawless beauty of Hollywood stars, forms the social mirror by which society judges itself. Under these circumstances certain women begin to see themselves as unwanted and not good enough. The answer to their feelings of unattractiveness is fulfilled by plastic surgery more often than not, and when their problem is not fixed by one surgery another is done until an addiction begins to form. In the year 2003, 4.3 million patients undergoing plastic surgery were returning patients. Cooly’s theory of the looking-glass-self illustrates why society is addicted to plastic surgery, and why this addiction is due to the media. The media projects images of people that are unrealistic and these images are what we feel we should look like. Women refuse to accept themselves for who they are and for what they look like because they don’t think that they measure up to society’s standards. The media shows its audience what’s considered “acceptable” and…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cited: Sang-Hun, Choe. "In South Korea, Plastic Surgery Comes Out of the Closet." The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 Nov. 2011. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.…

    • 1215 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Cosmetic fairy tales in the U.S. are spreading through the minds of a nation. The magazines and TV are show pictures of celebrities with perfect bodies, perfect hair, and perfect appearance; that is the main idea of society nowadays. Those kinds of message people are getting each day from mass media. According to an American Society of Plastic Surgeon’s survey, about 60, 000 of respondents do not like their noses, 30,000 do not like their chins, 6,000 do not like their ears and another 6,000 do not like their eyes (ASPS 1).…

    • 2007 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    In America, the average amount of money spent on cosmetic surgery each year is $13 billion. The main reason for so much money being spent on cosmetic surgery is the media. The media impacts a person’s view of the way they view their own body and how they view others as well. There could be positive and negative impacts on people. Some people like the way media portrays body image and most do not. The people who like the way media portrays body image are typically the ones that have the same body figure that are being advertised. The people who dislike the way media portrays body image are mainly the ones who do not have the body figure or are jealous of the ones that are being advertised.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays