Abstract
Women, Doctors and Cosmetic Surgery provides a much-needed analysis of both women’s experiences and doctors’ perspectives on cosmetic surgery. Similar to other Western countries, the cosmetic surgery industry in Australia has greatly expanded since the 1990s. Parker points out that it is also increasingly accessible to “ordinary” women and no longer a luxury procedure undertaken only by celebrities. These ordinary women, Parker argues, seek to alter their bodies in the context of a “plethora of discourses and meanings” about medical knowledge and power, definitions of femininity, and standards of beauty. Although previous scholarship has examined the gendered nature of cosmetic surgery, this work is unique because it provides an empirical account of women’s experiences as well as the perspectives of medical practitioners who conduct the procedures.
Parker covers a lot of ground setting up the issues that frame contemporary cosmetic procedures. Chapters Two through Four address the literature from three main perspectives: a history of cosmetic surgery; a necessary discussion on women and body image; and a broader chapter integrating literature from philosophy, feminism, and sociology. Chapters Five through Eight cover the results of the empirical study, which relied on in-depth interviews with thirty-two women who had undergone a surgical procedure and nineteen practitioners who conduct cosmetic procedures. Parker examines the growing commercialization of the cosmetic surgery industry, women’s and doctor’s motivations for undergoing and practicing cosmetic surgery, communication between patients and practitioners during procedural consultations, and how procedural risks are explained and understood between patients and practitioners.
Scholars and students with interests in gender, the body, and healthcare will find this an intriguing read. This book would be well suited for an upper level sociology or women’s studies course. Although useful in its entirety, specific chapters could also stand well on their own, such as any of the three literature review chapters.