This review aims to identify (1) sources of knowledge and (2) important themes of the ethical debate related to surgical alteration of facial features in East Asians. This article integrates narrative and systematic review methods. In March 2014, we searched databases including PubMed, Philosopher’s Index, Web of Science, Sociological Abstracts, and Communication Abstracts using key terms “cosmetic surgery,” “ethnic*,” “ethics,” “Asia*,” and “Western*.” The study included all types of papers written in English that discuss the debate on rhinoplasty and blepharoplasty (...) in East Asians. No limit was put on date of publication. Combining both narrative and systematic review methods, a total of 31 articles were critically appraised on their contribution to ethical reflection founded on the debates regarding the surgical alteration of Asian features. Sources of knowledge were drawn from four main disciplines, including the humanities, medicine or surgery, communications, and economics. Focusing on cosmetic surgery perceived as a westernising practice, the key debate themes included authenticity of identity, interpersonal relationships and socio-economic utility in the context of Asian culture. The study shows how cosmetic surgery of ethnic features plays an important role in understanding female identity in the Asian context. Based on the debate themes authenticity of identity, interpersonal relationships, and socio-economic utility, this article argues that identity should be understood as less individualistic and more as relational and transformational in the Asian context. In addition, this article also proposes to consider cosmetic surgery of Asian features as an interplay of cultural imperialism and cultural nationalism, which can both be a source of social pressure to modify one’s appearance. (shrink)

This article explores rage in the context of Korean feminist movements. Rage as a corporeal force can be combined with other emotional modalities to achieve consistency, durability, efficiency, and intensity. These modalities are interdependent, and rage, in relation to indignation, becomes a revolutionary affect that changes power dynamics. Women's indignant rage challenges the patriarchal value system and increases women's agency. Korean women deploy the politics of rage to “Escape the Corset” and free themselves from the oppressive devices—patriarchal family structures and (...) traditional notions of femininity and beauty—that oppress women's bodies. The “Escape the Corset” movement, driven by indignant rage, materializes the possibility of resistance and creation that puts an end to the phallic economy of desire and meaning, and it elaborates a new modality of women's life cycle and relation to the world. Unlike indignant rage, a feminist revolutionary tool, rage combined with hatred is a conservative affect that annihilates the possibility of change and maintains the status quo. The politics of rage promotes a deconstruction of the patriarchal system, joining with a subversive and cathartic joy that contains hope for a more just future. (shrink)

Using the 2000-2010 South Korean historical medical dramas Heo Jun, Dae Jang Geum, and Jejoongwon as case studies, this article examines televisual reimaginations of Korean medical modernity as interpretative popular culture texts. Particularly in the areas of the anatomical sciences and surgery, modern medicine’s emancipatory potentials in these productions are set semi-fictitiously in pre-modern Joseon historical contexts. Dramaturgically challenging entrenched social hierarchies and ossified cultural taboos of Institutionalized Confucianism, these dramas’ progressive physician-protagonists emphasize the universality and impartiality of medical knowledge (...) in what is herein termed as Generative Confucianism. (shrink)

The popularity of surgical modifications of race-typical features among Asian women has generated debates on the ethical implications of the practice. Focusing on blepharoplasty as a representative racial surgery, this article frames the ethical discussion by viewing Asian cosmetic surgery as an example of medicalization, which can be interpreted in two forms: treatment versus enhancement. In the treatment form, medicalization occurs by considering cosmetic surgery as remedy for pathologized Asian features; the pathologization usually occurs in reference to western features as (...) the norm. In the enhancement form, medicalization occurs by using medical means to improve physical features to achieve a certain type of beauty or physical appearance. Each type of medicalization raises slightly different ethical concerns. The problem with treatment medicalization lies in the pathologization of Asian features, which is oppressive as it continues to reinforce racial norms of appearance and negative stereotypes. Enhancement medicalization is ethically problematic because cosmetic surgery tends to conflate beauty and health as medical goals of surgery, overemphasizing the value of appearance that can further displace women’s control over their own bodies. I conclude that in both forms of medicalization, cosmetic surgery seems to narrowly frame a complex psychosocial issue involving physical appearance as a matter that can be simply solved through surgical means. (shrink)

There are large differences in the frequency and types of cosmetic surgeries performed in different countries around the world. Although availability, access, cost, and affordability each play a role in the observed differences, we tested the hypothesis that sociocultural and moral values significantly influence the level of acceptance of cosmetic surgery. In 2015, we collected the views of 206 college students in an international university in Japan to compare the views of Japanese students towards cosmetic surgery with those of South (...) Korean and Chinese students. There was an overall “negative” attitude towards cosmetic surgery among Japanese and Chinese students, compared with a “positive” attitude among Korean students, that was statistically significant. A qualitative analysis of the students’ comments suggests that the negative view of Japanese students towards cosmetic surgery was associated with the values of respect to parents, naturalness, concern for safety and health, modesty, and preserving one’s individuality. On the other hand, Korean students mentioned the values of beauty, autonomy, utility, popularity, and perceived safety as reasons for their positive attitude towards cosmetic surgery. The negative view of Chinese students was mainly associated with the value of respect to parents and preserving the inherited characteristics as well as avoiding the perceived risk of surgical procedures. Interestingly, students’ gender had no statistically significant influence on their positive/negative attitude and/or acceptance of cosmetic surgery. The finding of significant differences in sociocultural and moral values for and against cosmetic surgery suggests that cultural differences may explain the varying attitudes and thus some of the differing rates of cosmetic surgery between the countries. (shrink)