Beauty at the Service of Humanity: A Review on the Therapeutic Value of Aesthetic Treatments

In: Beauty: Exploring Critical Perspectives
Author:
Eva Carpigo
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Body modification aimed at attaining a valued standard of beauty has been the subject of much debate by social scientists. This chapter approaches the topic of aesthetic treatment by recognising an inherent complexity with the tendency to judge beauty practices as an expression of superficiality, vanity or social oppression. I first provide an original perspective about aesthetic surgery practices based on the theory of anthropopoiesis, the theoretical mark proposed by the cultural anthropologist Francesco Remotti. As inferred by this author, people’s concern with beauty can be read symbolically as an effort to grant subjects the ability to reach into ontological categories of ‘human-beingness’. In this regard, surgical procedures may help individuals resolve their feeling of incompleteness and escape their condition of social marginality. Then, in two field cases that emphasize psycho-socio-aesthetics and a humanitarian cosmetic surgery, I focus on the viewpoint adopted by beauty practitioners who consider aesthetic enhancements a cathartic process alleviating patients’ uneasiness and suffering. In this study, I argue that an aesthetic treatment should be recognised as a practice of well-being, because it enhances patients’ psychological and social well-being. Moreover, I reinforce the fact that ethical considerations guide the practice of beauty-care.

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