Sick/Beautiful/Freak

Nonmainstream Body Modification and the Social Construction of Deviance

Bibliographic Data

ID3338159
AuthorsMorgen L Thomas (University of Colorado Colorado Springs, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume2
Issue4
Pages2/4/2158244012467787
Publication date2012-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSAGE Open (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2158-2440 • E-ISSN: 2158-2440
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/2158244012467787
OpenAlexW2133754298
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited27

Nonmainstream body modification practitioners actively demonstrate a confounding agency that often results in the stigmatization of their physical characteristics, their moral constitution, and their behavior. By inscribing meaning and identity in visible ways rather than allowing society to project expectations onto them based on their gender, age, race, sexual orientation, and so on, nonmainstream body modifiers present a unique challenge to American conceptions of what is healthy, what is beautiful, and what is human. Using Patricia Hill Collins' idea of controlling images, Erving Goffman's conceptions of stigma, and Arthur W. Frank's styles of body usage typology, this article examines constructions of deviance within the embodied framework of unconventional body modification practices

Aesthetics · Constitution · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · FREAK · Sexual orientation · Sociology · Typology · Anthropology · Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies · Gender Studies · Law · Psychology · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology · Tattoo and Body Piercing Complications

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access