Men and Cosmetic Surgery
"Masculinity, self-identification and cosmetic surgery: an exploration"
Since the 1980s, an increasing number of Canadian men have sought out and experimented with cosmetic surgery procedures, including liposuction, rhinoplasty, facelifts, and hair implantation. The composition of the cosmetic surgery clientele in Canada has changed from almost exclusively female to include over 100,000 Canadian men. Yet, despite the booming interest and participation in cosmetic surgery among men in Canada, the experiences of men within the domain of cosmetic surgery, their motivations to participate in the procedures and the affects of the procedures on their ‘masculinity’ and sense of self have been vastly understudied.
The respective sociological literatures on masculinity and the medicalization of everyday life suggest that the ideal masculine identity, characterized by traits such as strength and youthfulness, is an unachievable cultural ideal against which men monitor and scrutinize their identities. Over the last few years I have been empirically investigating the sociological association between the dominant social and cultural norms of hegemonic masculinity, and the social and personal functions of cosmetic surgery.