ABSTRACT

The information sheet circulated for this study asked potential participants to consider what had shaped their decisions to undertake cosmetic surgery, and how having cosmetic surgery had impacted upon their lives. The eventual participants proved generous and thoughtful in terms of what they brought to interview. We were covering delicate, deeply personal ground, but it was apparent that the prospect of the interview prompted many participants to revisit the circumstances and their reasons for having cosmetic surgery prior to the interview. The remainder, noticeably more tentative at the beginning of their interview, demonstrated a preparedness to be highly reflective as the interview proceeded. Participants verified that their decisions to undertake cosmetic surgery were not random acts occurring in isolation from other events. Rather, they contextualized the circumstances informing their decisions to undergo such surgery by locating them within a continuum of logic which incorporated self and social experience. Following Schilder (1935), I have argued that body image is constructed through social interaction and participants in this study affirmed this viewpoint. Their interactions with significant others figured prominently in their accounts of appearance dissatisfaction and the differentiation between self and body image that they described in the lead-up to cosmetic surgery. Continuing with the broader theme of shame and its impact on body image construction and self-conceptualization, this chapter examines the social contexts elaborated by participants as heightening their appearance concerns. It draws from the interviews to explore these concerns with a view to uncovering the ways in which shame is implicated in the enactment of cosmetic surgery. Previous chapters considered the familial role in early socialization and the subsequent formation of body image. This chapter shifts the discussion from early childhood to the way in which other interactions might affect body image. It moves from childhood to adult relationships by considering firstly how partners influence body image. The second section considers the participants’ integration of their post-surgical bodies into their own self-stories and social lives. The third section draws on the interviews to discuss the role cosmetic surgeons play in reconstructing a preferred body image, and a final section explores how the constraints of the modern workplace impact body image construction.