Abstract
The present article analyzes how women and cosmetic surgery are represented in a Brazilian magazine called Plastica e Beleza [Plastic Surgery and Beauty]. This monthly magazine is specialized, as its name indicates, in bodily aesthetics, and it addresses mostly a female audience. Situated within an anthropological analysis of media, the present article investigates how discourses about bodily aesthetics produce and reproduce certain representations of gender, class, and race that can be found in contemporary Brazil. It is argued that cosmetic surgery’s “before and after” reflects the here and now of the Brazilian social body.
Resumo
Abstract
The present article analyzes how women and cosmetic surgery are represented in a Brazilian magazine called Plastica e Beleza [Plastic Surgery and Beauty]. This monthly magazine is specialized, as its name indicates, in bodily aesthetics, and it addresses mostly a female audience. Situated within an anthropological analysis of media, the present article investigates how discourses about bodily aesthetics produce and reproduce certain representations of gender, class, and race that can be found in contemporary Brazil. It is argued that cosmetic surgery’s “before and after” reflects the here and now of the Brazilian social body.
- © 2008 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Log in using your username and password
Purchase access
In this issue
Jump to section
Related Articles
Cited By...
- No citing articles found.