Well I hate to make it look like I’m taking sides in the heated Racial Beauty Battle that appears to be taking place lately in our rather specialized neck of the blogosphere, but Time Asia’s latest cover story about the plastic surgery boom in Asia seems too perfectly tailored to the theme to ignore. The biggest controversy of the boom is palpable:
The culturally loaded issue today is the number of Asians looking to remake themselves to look more Caucasian. It’s a charge many deny, although few would argue that under the relentless bombardment of Hollywood, satellite TV, and Madison Avenue, Asia’s aesthetic ideal has changed drastically. “Beauty, after all, is evolutionary,” says Harvard psychology professor Nancy Etcoff, who is the author of Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty—not coincidentally a best seller in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and China. Asians are increasingly asking their surgeons for wider eyes, longer noses and fuller breasts—features not typical of the race.To accommodate such demands, surgeons in the region have had to invent unique techniques. The No. 1 procedure by far in Asia is a form of blepharoplasty, in which a crease is created above the eye by scalpel or by needle and thread; in the U.S., blepharoplasty also ranks near the top, but involves removing bags and fat around the eyes. Likewise, Westerners use botox, or botulinum toxin, to diminish wrinkles—while in Korea, Japan and Taiwan, botox is injected into wide cheeks so the muscle will atrophy and the cheeks will shrink.Just as Asian faces require unique procedures, their bodies demand innovative operations to achieve the leggy, skinny, busty Western ideal that has become increasingly universal. Dr. Suh In Seock, a surgeon in Seoul, has struggled to find the best way to fix an affliction the Koreans call muu-dari and the Japanese call daikon-ashi: radish-shaped calves. Liposuction, so effective on the legs of plump Westerners, doesn’t work on Asians since muscle, not fat, accounts for the bulk. Suh says earlier attempts to carve the muscle were painful and made walking difficult. “Finally, I discovered that by severing a nerve behind the knee, the muscle would atrophy,” says Suh, “thereby reducing its size up to 40%.” Suh has performed over 600 of the operations since 1996.
Here’s one of their interactive graphics showing the most popular cosmetic surgeries in Asia. Indeed, most of them are to achieve common Western features. But chicken or the egg, right? The trend raises some dicey questions, ones that might not easily be answered. But on a blog not shy about picking the genetic side of arguments* it certainly puts us on the defensive.
As a side note, am I the only one who thinks the chosen title for this cover story seems a little offensive?
*Godless thinks that Rushton’s order may apply to beauty as well, with men being Asian < white < black and women being Asian > white > black. Razib and I tend toward the agnostic on this issue though.
Clarification: by agnostic I mean we have yet to hear a convincing or unproblematic argument that any characteristic racial phenotype is more desirable as it relates to innate and universal preference. For instance Sailer’s Is Love Colorblind? is a convincing (to me) example of innate preferences at work, but they are not universal preferences, they are contextual (b/c one’s own body type plays a large role in what members of the opposite sex seem compatible. [e.g. men usually like to date women shorter than they are]). And while this article might suggest growing universal preferences, it probably isn’t showing innate ones. Razib has his take in the comment box.
…one more related thing; who here has seen Gattaca? Aaiyyyiii!!!
Godless comments:
This could be possible, but American women (of all races) head to the tanning salon or the beach without us seeing the trend as evidence of internalized racism. Some men do it too.
Also, while I don’t know about the breast implants, I do know that most blepharoplasty specialists do not believe that it is about making Asian women look more “Western”
“From having performed surgery since 1981, and teaching the surgical techniques to other doctors for the same period, I honestly do not believe that most of the Asian patients are wanting to look like Westerners or their Caucasian friends. Rather, they want to retain their Asian features with the addition of an aesthetically pleasing Asian eyelid crease, just like their Asian friends or siblings.”
Of course, take that with a grain of salt…it’s not in his interests to say that it has racial overtones. Lastly, it might be of interest to know that Greta van Susteren had one:
Before the debut of her show, On the Record With Greta Van Susteren, she had an eye lift – medically known as blepharoplasty. It was the talk of the media world.
If this is the same as an “eye lift”…is it really racism? Might be worth checking out some statistics on plastic surgery in North America. Note that only 3% of North American clients were Asian Americans, but eyelid surgery was the fourth most common alteration, with more than 230000 per year. (link). The top 5 in 2002:
Nose reshaping 354,327
Liposuction 282,876
Breast augmentation 236,888
Eyelid surgery 230,672
Facelift 117,831
So it seems that these alterations are fairly common in North America as well. Anyone have stats on the frequency in Asia? Rates would be most interesting…I couldn’t find them in the article.
By the way, check out the stunning before and after pics!
Comments are closed.