Plastic surgery can be viewed differently depending on the person considering the surgery. Some people like to think of it as a right to adjust their body the way that they would like or see as ideal because they can. This is called viewing plastic surgery as an assertion of agency. In this view, the choice to get plastic surgery is more about “asserting power” (Webster). Some doctors believe that patients who wish to change themselves have this right as long as they are making an educated decision (Braun). Others, however, view plastic surgery as a menace and a means to change a person who is not very confident or has low self-esteem. In one case a woman went to get plastic surgery on her nose and after visiting multiple doctors found that they asserted that she have other surgeries as well. After her experience she pointed out that plastic surgery is something that can be seen by some as normal and others as a horrifying event. In her case she felt that the doctors tried to change her image to fit what is considered normal in society today (Pitts-Taylor). In the U.S patients that are considered good for plastic surgery are those that want to change anything to adapt to what is considered normal. In Brazil patients who want plastic surgery are considered to be suffering from psychological issues and the treatment that is considered good is plastic surgery. Edmonds mentions that beauty is part of an “unfair hierarchy” (Edmonds). This can be considered the truest statement because in the quest of every person to be normal they will continue to change themselves to adapt to new trends, meaning that there will never be equality or inequality and there never has been (Edmonds).
Works Cited
Braun, Virginia. "‘THE WOMEN ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES’". Australian Feminist Studies 24.60 (2009): 233-249. Web.
Edmonds, Alexander. "?The Poor Have The Right To Be Beautiful?: Cosmetic Surgery In Neoliberal Brazil". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13.2 (2007): 363-381. Web.
Pitts-Taylor, Victoria. "Becoming/Being A Cosmetic Surgery Patient: Semantic Instability And The Intersubjective Self". Studies in Gender and Sexuality 10.3 (2009): 119-128. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Webster, Dictionary. "Agency". http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agency 2016: 1. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
