NIP 'N' TUCK

NATASHA WALTE
R
Author of the acclaimed text li
ving dolls.

Takes a dim view of a culture

where breast implants, fake n
ails, spray tans and a myraid of
other alterations and addition
s to the female body are sugge
sted by the media to be libera
ting and empowering.
For Walter they are blantantly not.
In the opening section of her book, Walter narrates
how toy dolls such as Barbie and Bratz seem to be
"taking over" young girls lives.

Like Barbie, the bratz dolls also stems from CALIFOR

NIA (through MGM Entertainment), though the to
y's origins are much more nascent.
• WALTER REFLECTS: • Walter observes ho
• " The brilliant marketi w the body project
ng strategies of these 'of grooming, dietin
brands are managing t g, and shopping (no
o fuse the doll and the w) aims to achieve t
real girl in a way that je bleached, waxed,
would have been unth
tinted look of a Brat
inkable a generation a
go" z or Barbie doll.
• CORRESPOMDINGLY, comparisons can be ma
de with the porn industry.
• Walter remarks that the image of female sexu
ality to which we now aspire 'has become mo
re than ever defined by the terms of the sex i
ndustry'
• Indeed, such a comment fits into the notion o
f a wider cultural sexualisation that Brian Mc
Nair calls a 'pornographication of the mainstr
eam'
• This pornographication • As featured in adult magazi
is illustrated by a cultur nes and movies , female pe
e which can claim that rformers are sometimes ch
aracterized by surgically en
pole dancing is "exercis hanced breast. For most, th
e", where porn stars fea is consists of an enlargeme
ture as agony aunts in l nt which, although often si
ads' magazines and ther gnificant, is not extreme.
e is a vogue for a Brazili
an bikini wax.
• However, some women in the porn prfessi
on have opted for enormous enlargement
s which represent an exaggerated aestheti
c of femininity.
• Germaine Greer reports that Playboy maga
zine devised a test to define what constitut
ed the 'good' breast. As she writes: 'if a pe
ncil slid under the breast of a standing wo
man stayed put, her breast were saggy.
• A good breast by (this) definition
does not sag'. Moreover, 'a woma
n who has good breasts it the one
who has sizeable breasts that do
not sag'.
• Therefore, it has hardly surprising that co
ntemporary culture has seen a huge incre
ase in the number of women submitting t
o cosmetics surgery.
• Critical views on cosmetic surgery are dev
ided.
• The most naive view on cosmetics surger
y would be to see it as simply another for
m of body modification but those view is,
• of course, ignoring the fact that body modifi
ers ae attempting to challenge the idea of th
e norm while cosmetic surgery is trying to r
eproduce an extreme norrow idea of what i
s deemed "beautiful".
• ANNE BALSAMO points out that acts of cos
metic surgery upon the body are examples
of 'techno-bodies' but ones in which the bo
dy is heavily DISCIPLINED and 'becomes an
object of intense vigilance and control'.
• Balsamo comments, 'h
• Llewellyn Negrin echoes
ow certain technologi Balsamo's argument by
es are ideogically shap arguing that the increasi
ed bt the operation of ng popularity of cosmeti
gender interests and, c c surgery should be vie
onsequently, how the wed as making women
y serve to reinforce tra victims of a patriarchal i
ditional gender patter deology which dictates
ns of power and autho how they should look b
rity'. ased on male wishes an
d desires.

• However, other critics have t
aken a more liberal views of
the popularity of cosmetic s
urgery.
• KATHY DAVIS argues that co
smetic surgery may read as
an activity in which women
acknowledge the pressures
of contemporary culture but
can be seen to be dealing wi
th socio-cultural demands in
an active fashion.
• Such view can read cosme
tic surgery as women rising
to the challenge of keeping
young and beautiful in an a
ppearance-oriented culture
.
• Nevertheless, it must be re
membered that liberal vie
ws on cosmetic surgery do
little to account for why pe
ople(especially women) fe
el dissatisfaction with their
appearance in the first plac
e.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!