TY - JOUR
T1 - Breast Surgery as a Gender Technology: Analyzing Plastic Surgeons’ Discourses
AU - Coll-Planas, Gerard
AU - Cruells, Marta
AU - Alfama, Eva
PY - 2017/7/3
Y1 - 2017/7/3
N2 - © 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This article explores the role of breast surgery as a gender technology by considering the discourse of plastic surgeons. We analyze the gender discourses that come into play when surgeons are asked to distinguish between 3 cases of breast surgery: breast implantation for transsexual women, postmastectomy breast intervention, and breast augmentation for aesthetic reasons. In the surgeons’ discourses, the 3 interventions are situated in the reconstruction/cosmetic divide. However, we can see that this boundary is profoundly influenced by cultural conceptions of gender. These gendered conceptions affect what is labeled normal/abnormal, what demands are considered legitimate, and which bodies are deemed able to possess certain attributes.
AB - © 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This article explores the role of breast surgery as a gender technology by considering the discourse of plastic surgeons. We analyze the gender discourses that come into play when surgeons are asked to distinguish between 3 cases of breast surgery: breast implantation for transsexual women, postmastectomy breast intervention, and breast augmentation for aesthetic reasons. In the surgeons’ discourses, the 3 interventions are situated in the reconstruction/cosmetic divide. However, we can see that this boundary is profoundly influenced by cultural conceptions of gender. These gendered conceptions affect what is labeled normal/abnormal, what demands are considered legitimate, and which bodies are deemed able to possess certain attributes.
U2 - 10.1080/15240657.2017.1349504
DO - 10.1080/15240657.2017.1349504
M3 - Article
VL - 18
SP - 178
EP - 189
JO - Studies in Gender and Sexuality
JF - Studies in Gender and Sexuality
SN - 1524-0657
IS - 3
ER -