Book Review: Media and the Rhetoric of Body Perfection: Cosmetic Surgery, Weight Loss and Beauty in Popular Culture, by Deborah Harris-Moore

Abstract

Media and Rhetoric of Body Perfection: Cosmetic Surgery, Weight Loss and Beauty in Popular Culture. Deborah Harris-Moore. Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate, 2014. 210 pp. $109.95 hbk. $109.95 ebk-pdf. $109.95 ebk-ePUB.It is no secret that society today is obsessed with bodies-thin, fat, pale, tan, wrinkled, and not-so-wrinkled. It is also no secret that a big business exists making fat bodies become thin bodies, pale bodies become tanned bodies, and wrinkled faces become less wrinkled faces or better yet-never wrinkled faces in first place. Deborah HarrisMoore studied these ideas as part of her dissertation at University of Arizona and has extended this investigation into this volume. Currently a lecturer at University of California-Santa Barbara's Writing Program, Harris-Moore calls society's obsession with bodies and business surrounding exactness of changing one's body, the rhetoric of perfection. As title implies, book examines weight loss, cosmetic surgery, governmental involvement in reinforcing pop culture ideas of beauty, as well as institutionalization of these Western ideals in popular films and television programs in first five chapters. chapter preceding her conclusion investigates documentaries and modification. Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Susan Bordo are used heavily throughout as theoretical foundations in volume.Harris-Moore brings a unique perspective to this discussion. In Preface, she discusses her own cosmetic surgery and past battle with eating disorders: The many chapters of this book focus mainly on mass media and popular culture representations, but my own experience serves as lens through which I read these texts. It is perhaps this statement that is most telling for reader because each chapter in book allows Harris-Moore's own experience to color her writing throughout book. Her experiences added a unique perspective to each chapter whether she was evaluating a film, a television program, a documentary, First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign, how medical professionals interacted with patients/consumers, or even ease of accessibility to CareCredit for financing cosmetic surgery.The author's personal experiences were especially intriguing. For example, HarrisMoore posits that physicians are presented as gatekeepers of perfect body on reality show Swan. As a physician assumes role of a gatekeeper, physician is more likely to recommend additional surgeries than patient actually wanted or needed. Thus, patient is likely to feel pressured into accepting additional surgeries. According to author, this is exactly what she experienced. She entered cosmetic surgeon's office for a consultation about a septoplasty and ended up with not only septoplasty, but also a rhinoplasty and a chin implant:The irony of course, is that my chin was one of only parts I have never critiqued or even noticed before my first consultation. …