ABSTRACT

According to studies conducted on behalf of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 39,639 breast reduction surgeries were performed in North America in 1992. This number rose to 97,637 in 2001, an increase of 146 percent in nine years. During 2001, these surgeons also performed 206,354 breast augmentations, 81,089 breast reconstructions, and 18,730 breast implant removals. Breast reductions, reconstructions, and implant removals are considered reconstructive procedures, while augmentation is considered cosmetic. Grouped together there were over 400,000 breast operations on patients who were culturally legible as female in North America during 2001. It is worth noting that in 1992, just a decade earlier, fewer than 110,000 of these various breast operations were performed (National Clearinghouse of Plastic Surgery Statistics 2001). 1 Among these surgeries breast reduction surgery has largely escaped significant attention by feminist scholars though its precarious situation as a “reconstructive” plastic surgical procedure provides interesting evidence of the interrelationship of discourses of gender and health as they are implicated in the delivery of plastic surgery.

Sharleen: When I think cosmetic, I think oh, tucks and … [i]njections to make lips puffy or, you know. That’s mostly what I think of as cosmetic even, I guess, at the same time as I think of [breast reduction surgery as] cosmetic but more as plastic surgery. I don’t know why. It’s just totally different, eh?

Emma: I think I have consciously not considered it to be cosmetic surgery … At the same time, I don’t think … that breast reduction surgery can just be understood … as a medical procedure …

Tonya: I do see [breast reduction surgery] as cosmetic surgery … Because, for me, it was so much more cosmetic than medical … I think that our bodies are our own to … deal with as we please. 2