Heather Laine Talley
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814784105
- eISBN:
- 9781479840052
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814784105.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
This chapter analyzes facial feminization surgery (FFS)—surgical procedures that are marketed to trans women to achieve a “feminine”-appearing face. FFS is positioned as a vital intervention; the ...
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This chapter analyzes facial feminization surgery (FFS)—surgical procedures that are marketed to trans women to achieve a “feminine”-appearing face. FFS is positioned as a vital intervention; the “disfiguring” effects of gender nonconformity are described as deeply threatening to social interaction. Given the indispensability of sociality to human life, potential FFS patients are especially vulnerable to the second criterion of social death. While faces subject to extreme makeovers and facial feminization are not immediately intelligible as “disfigured,” participant/patients are routinely referred to as such. Taken together, these two cases demonstrate that what counts as disfigurement and repair is contextually bound. They also illustrate how the disfigurement imaginary can be employed to reposition bodies using conventions of disability. Interventions traditionally understood as elective thus are reframed as necessary.Less
This chapter analyzes facial feminization surgery (FFS)—surgical procedures that are marketed to trans women to achieve a “feminine”-appearing face. FFS is positioned as a vital intervention; the “disfiguring” effects of gender nonconformity are described as deeply threatening to social interaction. Given the indispensability of sociality to human life, potential FFS patients are especially vulnerable to the second criterion of social death. While faces subject to extreme makeovers and facial feminization are not immediately intelligible as “disfigured,” participant/patients are routinely referred to as such. Taken together, these two cases demonstrate that what counts as disfigurement and repair is contextually bound. They also illustrate how the disfigurement imaginary can be employed to reposition bodies using conventions of disability. Interventions traditionally understood as elective thus are reframed as necessary.
Heather Laine Talley
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814784105
- eISBN:
- 9781479840052
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814784105.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Health, Illness, and Medicine
The face is a core feature of our physical identity. Our face is how others identify us and how we think of our “self.” Yet, human faces are also essential mechanisms for communication and as a means ...
More
The face is a core feature of our physical identity. Our face is how others identify us and how we think of our “self.” Yet, human faces are also essential mechanisms for communication and as a means of eating, breathing, and seeing. Thus, facial disfigurement can endanger our fundamental notions of self and identity or even be life threatening. Because it is so difficult to conceal our faces, the disfigured face compromises appearance, status, and, perhaps, our very way of being in the world. This book examines the cultural meaning and social significance of interventions aimed at repairing faces defined as disfigured. It explores four sites in which a range of faces are “repaired”: face transplantation, facial feminization surgery, the reality show Extreme Makeover, and the international charitable organization Operation Smile. The book considers how efforts focused on repair sometimes intensify the stigma associated with disfigurement. It also considers alternative interventions and everyday practices that both challenge stigma and help those seen as disfigured negotiate outsider status. The book delves into the promise and limits of facial surgery, examining how we might understand appearance as a facet of privilege and a dimension of inequality. It argues that facial work is not simply a conglomeration of reconstructive techniques aimed at the human face, but rather, that appearance interventions are increasingly treated as lifesaving work.Less
The face is a core feature of our physical identity. Our face is how others identify us and how we think of our “self.” Yet, human faces are also essential mechanisms for communication and as a means of eating, breathing, and seeing. Thus, facial disfigurement can endanger our fundamental notions of self and identity or even be life threatening. Because it is so difficult to conceal our faces, the disfigured face compromises appearance, status, and, perhaps, our very way of being in the world. This book examines the cultural meaning and social significance of interventions aimed at repairing faces defined as disfigured. It explores four sites in which a range of faces are “repaired”: face transplantation, facial feminization surgery, the reality show Extreme Makeover, and the international charitable organization Operation Smile. The book considers how efforts focused on repair sometimes intensify the stigma associated with disfigurement. It also considers alternative interventions and everyday practices that both challenge stigma and help those seen as disfigured negotiate outsider status. The book delves into the promise and limits of facial surgery, examining how we might understand appearance as a facet of privilege and a dimension of inequality. It argues that facial work is not simply a conglomeration of reconstructive techniques aimed at the human face, but rather, that appearance interventions are increasingly treated as lifesaving work.
