ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the gendered aesthetic normalcies structure the discursive situation of breast reduction surgery as a reconstructive plastic surgery. It considers the limited available feminist discussions of breast reduction surgeries and patient's expectations and acceptance of postoperative scarring to examine how feminine norms of smooth and unblemished form function in relation to breast reduction surgery's reconstructive status. The chapter also considers interviewee's reflections on how their experiences of breast reduction surgery relate to their understandings of cosmetic surgery and situate their understandings as evidence of breast reduction surgery's existence at discursive tipping point between reconstructive and cosmetic surgeries. It argues that the hierarchical valuation has a profound impact on patient's experiences of surgery. The overwhelming focus of feminist criticism on cosmetic procedures such as breast augmentation has left the cultural understanding of cosmetic/reconstructive divide unchallenged. This divide, and the contemporary situation of breast reduction surgery as reconstructive plastic surgery, are enacted through gendered politics of aesthetic normalcy.
