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16 October 2006
Nip, Tuck And Tattoo Culture Examined 
Its prevalence in mainstream popular culture makes body modification an accepted part of life. Now, two researchers from the University California Santa Cruz have co-authored an intriguing book that considers the motives, fascination and implications associated with seemingly disparate body modification trends. There was once a time when clothing and makeup were considered enough to make a bold fashion statement or mask the aging process. Now, however, body modifications can range from a quick nip-and-tuck during your lunch break, to body modifications that many may consider the result of mental illness. In their new book, Bodies in the Making: Transgressions and Transformations, UC Santa Cruz professors Helene Moglen and Nancy Chen present 11 essays that examine why radical procedures like plastic surgery, tattooing, piercing, self-cutting, anorexia, bodybuilding and life extending technologies are becoming the norm. "The contributors are looking at a range of practices that aren't usually linked: tattooing, cosmetic surgery, life extension technologies, self-cutting. These are hot issues right now, and they are very relevant to people's everyday lives," says Moglen, professor of literature at UC Santa Cruz. "Is there anyone over 40 who is not at least thinking about what it might be like to get some kind of cosmetic surgery? Is there anyone over 60 not interested in hearing about life extension technologies?"
The book's contributors include 6 guest professors, a photographer, a transsexual author, an actress and a psychoanalyst. A number of these essayists look at how media representations "normalize" cosmetic medical procedures, which may be linked to: "deepening forms of medicalization that promote violence in the name of beauty." Other authors take a different approach, examining themes such as self-identity associated with cosmetic surgery and tattooing. "This is a book that tries to take apart easy value judgments that name behaviors as normal or pathological, beautiful or ugly, and voluntary or compulsory," says Moglen. Source: University California Santa Cruz
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