Description
Social scientists have adopted a gendered lens to investigate body modifications, including cosmetic surgery (CS). Wider discussions involve the impacts of geopolitics and sociopolitical notions upon aesthetic practices. This paper explores how such impacts manifest in CS amongst young Thai women, drawing on 50 online interviews and a poststructuralist feminist perspective. In a broad sense, postfeminism – a Western-originated concept characterised by independence and a neoliberal ethos – encapsulates interviewees’ CS stories. That is, self-improvement, individualised justifications, and de-politicisation (away from glaring patriarchal discourses) abound in such stories.
The paper argues that a Korean-Chinese wave influences beauty-based individualisation/de-politicisation, demonstrating national/ethnic hierarchies and a neoliberal climate. The author uncovers the dominance of South Korea in CS experiences. This dominance refers to Korean media, plus the global image of Korea associated with CS specialism. As Chinese culture has long permeated Thai society, Chinese spirituality – plus socioeconomic privilege tied to Chinese ethnicity – also facilitate young Thai women’s self-beautification. By contrast, white Western and Japanese components are comparatively marginal in these participants’ accounts. This presentation would generally contribute to gendering international relations – particularly gender studies, global politics, sociology, and cultural studies.
