Women and Cosmetic Breast Surgery
Weighing the Medical, Social, and Lifestyle Risks
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4650604 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tiffany Boulton (0000-0003-4068-9765, University of Leeds), Tiffany N Boulton (University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom), Claudia Malacrida (University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 511-523 |
| Publication date | 2012-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Qualitative Health Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1049-7323 • E-ISSN: 1552-7557 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1049732311421774 |
| PMID | 21908704 |
| OpenAlex | W2150360329 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 43 |
In this article we provide a comparative analysis of qualitative, semistructured interviews with 24 women who had undergone different forms of cosmetic breast surgery (CBS). We argue that women must negotiate three types of risk: potential medical risks, lifestyle risks connected with choosing "frivolous" self-enhancements, and countervailing social risks affiliated with pressures to maximize one's feminine beauty. In addition, we highlight the challenges faced in negotiating these risks by examining the limits to traditional forms of medical informed consent provided to the women, who received little information on the medical risks associated with CBS, or who were given uncertain and contradictory risk information. Even respondents who felt that they were well informed expressed difficulties in making "wise" choices because the risks were distant or unlikely, and hence easily minimized. Given this, it is fairly understandable that the known social risks of "failed" beauty faced by the women often outweighed the ambiguous or understated risks outlined by medicine. We argue that traditional notions of informed consent and risk awareness might not be adequate for women choosing CBS
Alternative medicine · Beauty · Informed consent · Negotiation · Political science · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies · Empathy and Medical Education · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Social Psychology
Feminist methods in social research
Risk Society
The politics of women's bodies
At the breast
Flesh Wounds
Unbearable Weight
Beauty and Misogyny
The Imperative of Health
Modernity and self-identity
The Discovery of Grounded Theory
Assessing and managing risk and uncertainty
Interpreting risk messages
Risk communication
Handbook of Interview Research
Modernity and Self-Identity
Researching Women's Lives From A Feminist Perspective
The Feminist Standpoint Revisited and Other Essays
Women and the Knife
Cosmetic Surgery
The Politics of Women's Bodies
Breast Implants, the Cult of Beauty, and a Culturally Constructed ‘Disease’
Go for it!’ Towards a critical realist approach to voluntary risk-taking
Health, Emotion and the Body
Risk society
The Agent Within
Mothers, Babies, and Breastfeeding in Late Capitalist America
Motivational Narratives and Assessments of the Body After Cosmetic Surgery
Risk and Risk Management for Australian Sex Workers
Communicative Conduct in Commercial Medicine
Consumerism, reflexivity and the medical encounter
The politics of women's bodies
Cosmetic Surgery
Designing Women
Accounting for risk and responsibility associated with smoking among mothers of children with respiratory illness
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,43 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2024 (13) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |