big_eye_surgery_the_ethics_of_medicalizing_asian_features.theoretical_medicine_and_bioethics10.1007_s11017017.亚洲大眼睛surgery_地药物治疗的伦理功能。_资料3.Image.Marked.pdf

Theor Med Bioeth DOI 10.1007/s11017-017-9395-y ‘‘Big eye’’ surgery: the ethics of medicalizing Asian features Yves Saint James Aquino1 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017 Abstract 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 medical- ization, 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 ref- erence 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. Keywords Ethics Cosmetic surgery Asian Medicalization Blepharoplasty Yves Saint James Aquino ysjames@ 1 Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, Sy