摘要：Cosmetic surgery is often linked to the perception that women who resort to cosmetic interventionsto alter their physical appearance are vain, superficial, and narcissistic. Few investigations have acknowledgedand explored the individual’s personal motivations and experiences of her action andchoice with regards to aesthetic surgery. By focusing on subjective experience, alternative insightscan be gained on the cosmetic procedure(s) and on how their reshaped body influences an individual’slifeworld experience. The article explores the perceived benefits and consequences of reshaping,enhancing, and/or reducing a perceived flaw or shortcoming of the body. From this exploration thefocus moves to the individual’s subjective and intersubjective perceptions: how she motivates andjustifies her physical transformation whilst keeping private, and at times hiding, her surgical intervention.Drawing on narratives from several women, we attempt to understand how they experiencecosmetic surgery in terms of their personal sense of self and their everyday social reality.
