Flesh Wounds: The Culture of Cosmetic Surgery

When did cosmetic surgery (CS) become a common practice? This work combines a provocative ethnography of plastic surgery & a penetrating analysis of beauty & feminism. Blum searches out the social conditions & imperatives that have made ours a culture of CS. From diverse viewpoints, ranging from CS patient to feminist cultural critic, she explores the realities & fantasies that have made physical malleability an essential part of our modern-day identity. Tying the boom in CS to a culture-wide trend toward celebrity, Blum explores our growing compulsion to emulate what remains for most of us two-dimensional icons. She reveals the ways in which the practice of CS captures the condition of identity in contemporary culture. Illustrations.