Lori Goldsberry

English 1010

Annotated Bibliography Final Draft

INTRODUCTION/RESEARCH QUESTION​: ​Is our culture’s obsession with beauty processes (hair,
eyebrows, plastic surgery, skincare) justified? One thing that many people have been asking themselves in the
last few decades is whether or not plastic surgeries are good or bad for you. While some people say that
beauty is in the eye of the beholder, others would rather use makeup to hide their imperfections. Other people
take it to the extreme and get cosmetic surgery to either enhance a feature they already have or to change a
feature completely, but a lot of people ask “where should we draw the line?” Some people are even curious
about how this will affect the generations further down the line or if this is simply a fad that will soon die out but
the cosmetic surgery businesses seem to have been growing over the recent years exponentially which also
gives rise to the concerns that society wonders where that line should be drawn on this matter.
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SOURCE 1: D’Agostino, Johanna, and Marek Dobke. “A Plastic Surgeon's Perspective on Stereotyping
and the Perception of Beauty.” IntechOpen, IntechOpen, 25 Oct. 2017,
www.intechopen.com/books/perception-of-beauty/a-plastic-surgeon-s-perspective-on-stereotyping-and
-the-perception-of-beauty

SUMMARY 1:
● In this article, it states how a plastic surgeon finds that certain misconceptions can lead to irrational
requests/outcomes not appreciated by patients that come into plastic surgery clinics. Stating that
people who manage aesthetics should listen, recognize the variability of cultural identities, desires,
attitudes, anxieties, and uncertainties of the patients in regards to what they are looking for and the
outcome expected. This article focuses on how cultural factors influence beauty perception; strengthen
the fact that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and how variable differences exist even between small
subgroups.

RESPONSE 1:
● I think that the side of the plastic surgeons are important to this viewpoint paper as they are the ones
directly involved with patients coming from different cultural backgrounds. Understanding why the
patients want to change their looks as well as for what purpose it will serve is important not just for the
people they will be surrounded by but as well as society’s judgment. I found this article to be quite
interesting in the sense that they look at cultural backgrounds as well as historical beauty trends and
celebrities that supported those features.
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SOURCE 2:​ ​Heidekrueger, Paul, et al. “Lip Attractiveness: A Cross-Cultural Analysis.” ​Aesthetic
Surgery Journal​, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 July 2017,
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27677824/
SUMMARY 2:
● This source looks at the study done by The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Inc. This
study’s objective is stated as, “This study will increase surgeons' awareness with respect to different lip
size preferences. The provided information might enhance and clarify communication among plastic
surgeons and aid to put often quoted "ideal proportions" in context.” This study was not only looking for
the ideal lip size based on professionals in the field, but they looked into different variables such as the
country of residence, sex, age, occupation, and aesthetic perception of the plastic surgeons involved in
this study as well as the laymen (citizens of their respective countries where the plastic surgeons
resided).

RESPONSE 2:
● I think that this study was interesting. It had shown the differences in the different countries as well as
they had looked into what the people wanted. This was to see if the professionals would be able to
determine what they thought their patients would like or prefer based on attributes from their place of
heritage. The results were seen as, A total of 1011 responses (14% response rate) from 35 different
countries were gathered. Significant differences regarding lip fullness were identified. Surgeons who
practice in Asia or non-Caucasian surgeons prefer larger lips, while those in Europe and Caucasians
prefer smaller lips. Lastly, laypersons living in Asia prefer the smallest lips.” I believe that looking into
this, not all professionals really understand their patients and simply deciding on what they believe that
the patient wants for themselves from an ethnically biased opinion would not get achieve the result that
the patient wants to recieve.

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SOURCE 3: Herald, The Korea. “Uncovering History of Double Eyelid Surgery.” ​The Korea Herald,​ 11
Sept. 2015, ​www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20150911000982

SUMMARY 3:
● The Korea Herald states here the history and the reasoning for why double eyelid surgery is becoming
their nation’s largest plastic surgery procedure and what it represents. In the article it states, “Some 60
years have passed, and South Korea has evolved into the world’s plastic surgery-capital. A total of
440,582 surgical operations were performed in Korea last year alone, accounting for 4.6 percent of all
procedures performed in the world. Double-eyelid surgery is one of the most common procedures being
performed here.” This information is something that is hard to refute. So many people in the world are
getting surgeries. Not only does this reflect Asians but if you consider that South Korea is simply one
county and one of the largest in the world to have citizens getting surgeries if you put into perspective
other countries that have larger populations it is surprising how large the actual world population is in
comparison.

RESPONSE 3:
● This viewpoint represents the differences in the number of those who have and have not had plastic
surgery. The people that have not had plastic surgery still out number the people who have not had
surgery, but it showcases that cosmetic surgeries are growing in number year by year, though they
aren’t the same surgeries being done to all people, there are growing amounts of surgeries for a variety
of different things that are now being offered.
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SOURCE 4: KASBEE, KATE. “Going Global: The Perception Of Beauty Around The World: AEDITION.”
Aedit.com | Aesthetic Edit,​ 2020,
https://aedit.com/aedition/global-beauty-trends-the-perception-of-beauty-around-the-world
SUMMARY 4:
● This source I found to be quite interesting. On the main page it has information about experiments done
for the “ideal body type” as well as information about six different countries and their ideal versions of
beauty. For example this article states, “India has strict beauty standards that girls are held to from a
young age. There is a considerable amount of pressure from a woman’s family and neighbors to look a
certain way. In India, beauty ideals include long, lustrous black hair, almond-shaped eyes, natural lips,
dark eyebrows, thick eyelashes, and a straight, pointed nose.” A lot of this research can be found by
looking into what these countries are endorsing and top selling beauty products in their country.

RESPONSE 4:
● Overall I think that this viewpoint showcases the different countries and how they are responding to
plastic surgery as well as how the people in those countries are reacting to new trends leading to new
ideals that almost always seem pretty unattainable outside of normal methods like simply using makeup
to enhance features you already have. This fits in well with my topic of the people involved as well as
plastic surgery viewpoints.

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SOURCE 5: Lee, Alicia. “The 'Fox Eye' Beauty Trend Continues to Spread Online. But Critics Insist It's
Racist.” CNN, Cable News Network, 11 Aug. 2020,
www.cnn.com/style/article/fox-eye-trend-asian-cultural-appropriation-trnd/index.html​.

SUMMARY 5:
● On Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, people have been posting videos and photos modeling the
“Fox-eye” look. Makeup tutorials show how to use a combination of eye shadow, eyeliner, and fake
eyelashes, to get a winged aesthetic. Tips include shaving off the tail end of eyebrows and redrawing
them to appear straighter and angled upwards. Others have also suggested pulling hair back into a
high ponytail or using tape to further lift the eyes. Accentuating eyes to appear slanted, or elongated in
shape. However, for many Asian Americans, the "migraine pose" that sometimes accompanies these
images -- using one or two hands to pull the eyes up by the temples to exaggerate the result -- is
similar to the action used to demean them in the past and has thus created a trend is an act of cultural
appropriation.

RESPONSE 5:
● In this article, the viewpoint is stating that new makeup trends involving people of different races and
cultures are becoming more and more extreme to the point that it is culturally appropriating a certain
minority group by another group who have greater privilege or power based on an identity marker.
While this wasn’t the intention for the original look it for sure had some impact amongst the viewership
and even caused some tension. While others looked at the new beauty trend and thought nothing was
wrong with it, it became an issue with a lot of other viewers who did not appreciate the trend.
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SOURCE 6: “This Woman Had Her Body Photoshopped To Look 'Ideal' In 18 Countries.” ​Professional
Beauty​, 11 Aug. 2016,
www.professionalbeauty.com.au/beauty/want-to-know-what-the-ideal-body-shape-in-18-countries-is/

SUMMARY 6:
● In this source it showcases a woman who has had her photo taken and the photo was sent to 18
countries. In each country a graphic designer was asked to Photoshop the same photo to make her
more attractive to citizens of their respective countries. Not only was this seen worldwide, but it went
viral after being sent out publicly. This was shocking to so many people and they also looked into the
BMI of the model after her photo retouched.

RESPONSE 6:
● This viewpoint represents different countries who have different ideals of what they believe is beautiful.
I think that a lot of the photos were representative of how people in their country already look. For
example, China’s model that was photoshopped was much thinner than any of the other photos and
generally in China a lot of people there tend to be thinner and score a much lower number on BMI due
to genetics. I think that this would also be represented in the photo that they sent back. While this
particular site may not have been the most reliable, I have also found the original site that founded the
study and many other sites that have responded to this particular study similarly like this one listed.
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OVERALL CONCLUSION
● Overall, I think that I have seen a variety of perspectives on this matter of “What is beauty?” and how
plastic surgery is viewed from a professional perspective. I think that a worldly perspective has also
been found as well as viewpoints from different regions. There are so many different viewpoints that
could be spoken about, but all the sources relate to the main research question of “Is our culture’s
obsession with beauty processes (hair, eyebrows, plastic surgery, skincare) justified?” and a question
that I have for myself unanswered is my own viewpoint. After reading into all the viewpoints I think that
my original viewpoint has changed so delving deeper into that will be interesting.