Buying Beauty: Cosmetic Surgery in China

Conclusion

How often have we heard the saying that “beauty is only skin deep”? Well, maybe it is time to rethink it. A purpose of this book is to decode meanings embodied in a seemingly “frivolous” and “trivial” beauty practice—cosmetic surgery—in the context of China. As has been discussed in the preceding chapters, beauty and the pursuit of it through cosmetic surgery is more than skin deep. The practice of surgical body alteration is intertwined with various social meanings and values, and embodies the discourse of both control and resistance. Women’s choice to undergo cosmetic surgery reflects the reconfiguration of women’s mundane lives, their sense of the gendered self, and the socio-cultural and political power over the body in today’s China. “Agency Within”: The Dilemma of Cosmetic Surgery As noted earlier, at the heart of the controversy among feminists, the key issues are cosmetic surgery as women’s subjugation to the male gaze versus cosmetic surgery as women’s own sense of empowerment, women’s false consciousness versus women’s self choice, and women as victims versus women as agents. Can we make sense of women’s involvement in cosmetic surgery without denying either the power structure exerted on women or women’s own agency? As Kathy Davis states, “Individual agency is always situated in relations of power, which provide the conditions of enablement and constraint under which all social actions take place. There is no ‘free choice’ where individuals exercise ‘choice’ in any absolute sense of the word” (2003: 12). Indeed, choices are always exercised within a socio-cultural context. In a culture where even slight physical imperfections are seen as barriers to Conclusion 206 Buying Beauty happiness, most women who seek cosmetic surgery certainly do not make fully free choices. Thus, the purpose of drawing upon the notion of agency in discussing women’s involvement in cosmetic surgery is not to overlook the power structures which exercise control over women’s bodies. Instead, the goal is to find ways of critiquing the social conditions which produce the beauty system without simply blaming women as duped victims of ideological manipulation. In fact, it is not only women but also men who can hardly resist the existing power structures. Although choices are made under conditions that women cannot choose, there is nonetheless a space in which those women can exercise control over their lives by using cosmetic surgery as a strategy. Wijsbek has argued that women’s ability to respond adequately to external circumstances is a kind of freedom, “a freedom within the world, not a freedom from it,” in Susan Wolf’s apt phrase (Wijsbek 2000: 458, citing Wolf 1990: 93). In the case of women’s choice to undergo cosmetic surgery, I use the term “agency within” to describe women’s ability to act within specific historical circumstances: women are free, but only within structures of history and power and gender subjugation over which they have no control. As has been discussed, physical appearance is largely considered a form of capital which can be invested in and transformed; cosmetic surgery is thus widely viewed as an investment for personal gains. From these women’s points of view, cosmetic surgery is a practical strategy to exercise control over their lives, although it is a costly, painful, and even dangerous option. By accumulating physical capital through modifying her appearance , a woman may have the ability to alter other areas of her life for her own benefit. The more physical capital a woman can hold, the more ability she may have to reshape the social, cultural and economic fields around her. As Shilling argues, “If one feels unable to exert influence over an increasingly complex society, at least one can have some effect on the size, shape and appearance of one’s body” (2003: 6). Therefore, sometimes cosmetic surgery is not only a means to improve one’s appearance, but also a strategy to boost one’s self-esteem, to obtain a better job and higher earnings, and to signify one’s social status: this certainly is the case for many of the Chinese women discussed in this book. However, women’s “free” choices to undergo cosmetic surgery are always shaped by multiple power forces. In terms of cosmetic surgery, women exercise their agency within structure rather than transcending that Conclusion 207 structure. Women may think that they make their own choices, whereas in...