Running head: REALITY BEHIND UNDERAGE PLASTIC SURGERY

Avila 1

Reality Behind Underage Plastic Surgery

Maribel Avila

University of Texas at El Paso

Lori Whitaker

RWS 1302: Rhetoric and Writing Studies II

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Teens and Plastic Surgery

It may be difficult imagine underage boys and girls going under the knife for plastic

surgery, but it does happen although maybe not for the reasons you might initially believe. This

is because plastic surgery is often associated with procedures such as liposuction, Botox

injections and breast augmentation. You might imagine these surgeries happening for purely

cosmetic reasons, but in some cases they are actually medically necessary. The genres discussed

in this paper address the instances in which these surgeries are done for corrective/reconstructive

purposes. One genre is in the form of a medical study titled Body Image, Psychosocial

Functioning, and Personality: How Different Are Adolescents and Young Adults Applying for

Plastic Surgery? by Kuni J. Simis which targets the questions of whether or not the teens

involved have realistic views of themselves, how much of a necessity the procedures are to them

from a psychosocial aspect, and what relations there are between bodily attitudes and

psychosocial functioning and personality. The other genre is a newsletter written by plastic

surgeon, Dr. Paul Vanek, titled Teens & Plastic Surgery and presents the question of whether or

not teens should receive plastic surgery.

Audience and Purpose

Since the first genre has been published in a medical journal, the information had the

purpose of educating and informing the readers of the journal of the data that the authors

collected. This information contains a lot of highly specialized language, mostly in respect to

those affected by medical defects and disorders, so it is clear that the intended audience is a

discourse community of professional psychologists and psychiatrists. It would also take the
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audience about half an hour or more to thoroughly read through the article and understand the

data given in the tables within the text.

The second genre is a newsletter that was published on the internet with the purpose also

being to inform its readers. While it is in part written for a general audience, there are parts of the

text that are directed towards parents who are making the decision of allowing their child to

undergo plastic surgery. Vanek includes an infographic in his article which has its statistical

information cited from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Since this newsletter is only

moderately formal, the language involved makes it easy to read for anyone who isnt familiar

with some of the more specialized vocabulary. Therefore, it would only require about ten to

fifteen minutes for an individual to read.

Both of these genres were written with the intent of informing the readers about plastic

surgery and teens. However, they have different messages to the reader. The purpose of the first

genre is to communicate the results of a study. The purpose of the second genre is to help parents

decide on whether plastic surgery is a good idea.

Rhetorical Issues

The genres being discussed utilize different rhetorical appeals because even though they

both address the same topic of teenagers and plastic surgery, they have different perspectives.

The first genre, Simis study, presents heavy use of ethos and logos, but nearly no pathos whereas

the second genre, Vaneks newsletter, makes use of more pathos and logos.

Ethos
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The study conducted by Simis establishes credibility very clearly by citing its sources not

only by providing an entire two pages full of different academic references, but also throughout

the study with many in-text citations. All of the data collected is firsthand meaning that the data

is a primary source, which helps further the authors credibility. The conductors of the

experiment are associated with Erasmus University in the Netherlands and also the Association

of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (ACPP).

The newsletter establishes its credibility in a different way. The author himself is a board

certified plastic surgeon. Vanek also states that he is a member of the previously mentioned

American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The sources he used in his writing included

mostly secondary and tertiary sources such as statistics gathered by the ASPS, additional

resources that deal with the same issue. Vanek also included input that he gathered from his own

experience as a surgeon, which would be a primary source.

Pathos

Simis study does not involve pathos as a rhetorical appeal to its audience because for a

medical study, it would be considered unprofessional, create bias, and perhaps misrepresent the

results. However, the newsletter is quite the opposite. Vanek uses pathos heavily in two ways; he

first sympathizes with his audience by stating that he himself is a parent of three, and can

understand the difficulty of making such a decision for a teen as to whether or not they need

surgery. The second way he uses pathos is by presenting his audience with situations where a

teen affected by a particular physical defect or medical condition could have some difficulties

with social environments such as school. These situations are capable of evoking some feelings

of sympathy from the audience.

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Logos

The first genre applies logos through both the language used and the evidence it uses. The

article uses a lot of medical terminology that a common reader would likely not understand, but

for a professional psychologist or psychiatrist, the meaning is clear and gives very precise

information. The evidence provided in the article was gathered from surveys, clinical reports,

and interviews. In this study, the data collected would be considered qualitative on a person-by-

person basis, but the data was all compiled together and presented as quantitative.

The second genre applies its logos via situational examples and the statistics from the

ASPS. There is a slight amount of quantitative research provided which is the statistics that go

along with the infographic in the article, but the newsletter relies more on the qualitative research

of the situational examples where teens affected by a physical defect or medical condition could

benefit from plastic surgery.

Structure and Delivery

The medical article is organized by the steps traditionally used in the scientific method

including and introduction, method, results, and discussion to convey its message to the

audience. Since it is written in such a professional manner, the text follows a very strict writing

structure. While this structure helped facilitate the purpose more effectively by giving both raw

and analyzed data to the audience, it does not provide an outlet for the rhetorical appeal of

pathos.

As for the newsletter, the text is organized in segments such as presenting the question of

whether or not teens should be getting plastic surgery, reasons that they shouldnt, reasons that

they should, how parents can make the decision, and additional resources. This piece of writing
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is far less formal than the medical article, so the author does have the freedom to express his

opinions while staying within a professional boundary. Its simple structure keeps the genre easy

to read by separating the major ideas into smaller sections.

Conclusion

In summary, both genres complete the task of communicating a particular message to an

audience. The first genre does this with its highly credible sources and primary research

evidence. The second genre does it with the sympathetical appeal to the audience as a fellow

parent, and also the credibility of a board certified plastic surgeon who is a member of the ASPS.

The two genres have very different writing structures, but for the way that each one is presenting

its argument they are each effective in their own way.

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References

Simis, K. J., Verhulst, F. C., & Koot, H. M. (2001). Body image, psychosocial functioning, and

personality: how different are adolescents and young adults applying for plastic

surgery?. Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry, And Allied Disciplines, 42(5),

669-678.

Vanek, Paul. "Teens & Plastic Surgery." Dr. Paul Vanek's Newsletter. N.p., 02 Apr. 2013. Web. 10

Feb. 2017.