2017 Volume 16 Pages 3-14
Cosmetic surgery is generally believed to be performed to address an “inferiority complex” or an attempt to “appeal to others”. However, people who undergo cosmetic surgery emphasize “self-satisfaction”, and are also concerned about how their appearance is evaluated by others. Previous studies regarding “the others” as “the opposite-sex” or “the social” (generalized other), and have overlooked who specifically “the others” are in these cases. Therefore, this paper tries to clarify the persons who cosmetic surgery seekers and practitioners make reference to.
Previous studies often only target persons who experienced cosmetic surgery, but in this paper I compare with seekers and non- seekers, or experienced persons and non-experienced persons, while interviewing experienced persons. This is because the comparative analysis clarifies something combined with cosmetic surgery experience. While previous studies have focused on their motivations, I have focused on their communications.
From the analysis, I find that they (seekers, experienced persons) refer to same-sex friends firstly, and then their mother or sister. Considering that there are more women who commit to cosmetic surgery than men, a “network of women” involved in the appearance is important. For women, in communication with familiar same-sex people, not the opposite sex and society (generalized others) “horizon”—the social world we change our appearance in—is established.
