ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the dramaturgical performance of cosmetic surgery among men challenges the cultural myth surrounding cosmetic surgery as an act of gender-based body docility. It discusses the rise of new 'cosmetic masculinities' in Canada over the past two decades illustrates how the redefinition of modernity's institutions, codes, and practices has opened the door for some men to dramaturgically narrate power in their lives as 'new men' through embodied performances. The chapter breaks from the common academic interpretation of cosmetic surgery as a deep act of disempowered gender conformity in countries like Canada. It presents the rekindle elements of Goffman's classic dramaturgical model of embodied identity performance to examine how surgically modifying the body is less an act of acquiescence to dominant gender ideal-types, and more about the benefits of doing a particular brand of male femininity. The mixing and matching of femininity and masculinity through the act of cosmetic surgery is spurred by these social conditions.
