Buying Beauty: IB Anthro AoI, "the Body"

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Buying Beauty: Title

Buying Beauty: Author

Wen Hua

Buying Beauty: Location

China

Buying Beauty: People Studied

Middle/upper class women

Buying Beauty: Data Collection Years

early/mid-2000s

Hua conducted long-term fieldwork in which spaces across China?

Cosmetic surgery hospitals, beauty clinics, and urban consumer spaces

What was the purpose/aim of Hua’s study?

To investigate how appearance, gender, and body ideals are shaped in a rapidly modernizing society

Methods used in Hua’s fieldwork

Interviews, participant observation, and case studies

Hua examines how cosmetic surgery became intertwined with forms of…

consumerism, media influence, and social prowess

Agency

The capacity for human beings to make their own choices

Commodification

The transformation of something not traditionally classified as a good/service into an item to sell

Habitus according to Mauss

physical habit/custom, acquired ability; related to physical body in the subconscious

Example of habitus according to Mauss

Each society has its own physical habits in eating, sitting, washing; ex. eating at the table vs on the floor, or using/not using utensils

Habitus according to Bourdieu

Enacting of social structures through movements and senses, bodily shape, physique, and movement; shaped by peoples’ social, cultural, and/or economic background

Bourdieu’s definition of habitus is essentially a combination of…

physical actions and choices

Example of habitus according to Bourdieu

Handshakes, sports, how one views the purpose of their body, how one sees their body; ex. white vs blue collar workers may have different perceived ambitions/purposes for their bodies

Personhood

Culturally constructed concept of the individual human being, the “self”

Subjectivity

An anthropologist’s perspective in writing and cultural interpretation of others is guided by his of her own background and experience

The Other

Anthropologists use this term to describe the way people who are members of a particular social group perceive other people who are not members (in-group vs out-group)

The self

Socially/culturally constructed understanding of an individual

Which 3 Key Concepts best relate to the ISC of the self?

Identity, Social Relations, Society

Maosim

Emphasis of the collective instead of the individual → do what’s best for the family/community

Globalization

How the world becomes more connected through culture, economy, and ideas

Ideology

The main set of beliefs and values of a group

Structure

Framework used to organize society and the relationships within it

Classification

Framework used to organize society and the relationships within it

Modernization

When less developed societies adopt traits of more developed ones, often losing traditions

Neo-colonialism

When old colonial powers still control or influence former colonies

Who was China’s first “Artificial Beauty”

Hao Lulu

Who did Hao meet at her 24th birthday party?

Bao Huai, the marketing director of EverCare cosmetic surgery hospital

Why did EverCare need publicity?

Due to the SARS epidemic

What was the value of the surgeries EverCare gave to Hao?

400 thousand yuan

What kinds of procedures did Hao receive from EverCare?

Eyelids, nose, contour reshaping, breast augmentation, liposuction, etc

Why did EverCare give Hao Lulu thousands of dollars of free surgeries?

In exchange for publicity

Although Hao Lulu asserted her agency in her surgeries, what was the reality?

Hao’s body was objectified by capitalism, transforming into a publicity stunt (chaozao); used as a medium of self-expression and empowerment

Li Fei

College student disfigured by illegal beauty salon procedure → symbol of unregulated beauty industry dangers

Confucian and Socialist ideologies emphasize _________ instead of _________

inner virtue instead of physical beauty

Finish the Confucian quote: “Our bodies - to every hair and bit of skin - are received from our _________”

parents

Some critical feminists view cosmetic surgery as modern version of…

footbinding

Xiao Juan

Received double-eyelid surgery as reward for university entrance → surgery = long-term capital for job market competition

Chen Jing

Young job-seeker who was unable to find a job despite her academics, yet her pretty peers found success → ends up doing double-eyelid and rhinoplasty surgery

Iron rice bowl

Metaphor about how a college degree guaranteed a stable, lifetime job → Deng’s reforms eliminated guaranteed jobs

Although students agree that their abilities should matter more in the job market, ________________ continues to strongly influence hiring

physical appearence

Job listings tend to place requirements for women’s ______________ and men’s ____________

height, beauty, demeanor; height, rarely appearence

Institutional discrimination

Gendered hob categories (men’s jobs vs women’s jobs) → Chinese women concentrated in low-status service, PR, clerical roles, etc

Chinese marriage market

Millionaire marriage advertisements demanding young, slim, tall, and virginal women with college degrees

Gao Lin

Had a successful career but couldn’t find a husband → told she lacked “femininity;” considers jaw surgery to appear softer/more traditionally feminine

Cosmetic surgery ends up not being a personal choice, rather a social response to structural __________ and _____________

inequalities; gender norms/expectations

“Ideal beauty”

Concept propagated by mass media → fuels consumer desire

Lin Fang

Woman in her 20’s seeking liposuction; already attractive but desires perfection → influenced by media images + fashion magazines, using them for beauty tips and info on cosmetic surgery

What is the role of magazines in body ideals?

Major structural agent in shaping body ideals, presenting beauty “solutions,” makeup, style, exercise, cosmetic surgery; socialize women into beauty norms

Magazines claim cosmetic surgery is the “_____________,” presenting it as…

solution; fashionable, quick, effective, low-risk, path to happiness

Cosmetic surgery has shifted from a __________ procedure to a ______________

medical; consumer service

“Hyperreal beauty”

Media producing a form of beauty that is more real than reality, influencing women to undergo cosmetic surgery to transform a real body into a hyperreal/”perfected” form

Wu Mei

29-year-old financially independent manager who has received a rhinoplasty, double-eyelid surgery, liposuction; believes beauty is essential for social advantage, spending more than 1/3 of her income on beauty products

Finish Wu Mei’s quote: “if you couldn’t leave others a good _________ at first glance, you are already at a __________”

impression, disadvantage

Ilizarov procedure

Leg-stretching surgery, initially developed for bone fractures and therapeutic use → adapted dangerously in China for cosmetic height increases

Jobs often require women to be between ____ and ____ meters tall, while the average height of a woman in China is ____ meters

1.6 to 1.65; 1.58

Xiaomei

25 year old woman paid 45 thousand yuan by her company to increase to undergo leg-stretching surgery to increase her height by 8 cm; gained the height but was later unable to walk → lower leg bone failed to heal (hospital performed unapproved surgery + surgeon lack of experience)

What did the Ministry of Health do about leg-stretching procedures?

Banned it in 2006

Belief and Knowledge example

Belief that cosmetic surgery can improve job prospects (social mobility) → Xiao Juan (“long term capital”) & Wu Mei (first impressions)

Change example

Cosmetic surgery in China shifted from taboo in the 1990s to widely accepted + normalized by 2000s, influenced by media, modernization, & economic reforms

Culture example

Filial piety/Confucianism -> emphasis of inner virtue > physical beauty

Maoism → emphasis of the collective, doing what’s best for family/community

Identity example

Hao Lulu’s identity of China’s first “Artificial Beauty” and the struggles that follow with being labeled as “artificial” (cosmetic surgery reshaping female social identity)

Materiality example

Mirrors used at clinics = material objects that signify transformation, success, proof of self-improvement

Power example

Employers’ ability to accept or reject female job applicants based on appearance (height, etc) = structural power over women’s bodies + economic freedom

Social Relations example

Some families pressure daughters to undergo surgery to improve marriage/employment prospects → beauty shaping family dynamics

Society example

Cosmetic surgery hospitals, media industries, job markets -> together form social system where appearance = form of capital + social value

Symbolism example

Cosmetic surgery symbolizing modernity, ambition, self-discipline → turning altered body parts into symbols of social mobility

What are some ways that Buying Beauty connects to commodification?

• Women’s bodies become marketable objects (EverCare giving Hao thousands of yen worth in surgeries in exchange for publicity)

• Beauty = investment (form of convertible capital)

• Cosmetic surgery sold as a product -> purchasable route to success

• Media + clinics turn appearance into something that can be bought, sold, upgraded

What are some ways that Buying Beauty connects to globalization?

• International media, magazines, advertising circulate idealized beauty images

• Western (and some Korean/Japanese) beauty standards mixing w/ local ones

• China’s cosmetic surgery industry modeling itself on global “beauty economies”

• TV shows, clinics, celebrities -> globalize beauty/aesthetic norms

What are some ways that Buying Beauty connects to ideology?

• Beliefs that beauty = success, modernity, confidence, employability (Wu Mei + first impressions)

• Internalized ideas about femininity (Gao Lin), beauty, competitiveness in job market

• Media pushing ideology that “there are no ugly women, only lazy ones”

• Surgery framed as rational, scientitf, morally acceptable

• Juxtaposed against Confucian/filial ideology -> body from parents