Beauty and body management are important aspects of women’s everyday life in Iran (as I imagine in many other contexts). The phenomenon of cosmetic surgeries especially has been alarmingly growing in the past few decades. The cosmetic market is saturated with ads featuring tiny and ‘corrected’ noses. The medical industry seems to be welcoming the rise in demand as an opportunity, rather than a problematic situation.
Iran is named the ‘nose job capital of the world’, not because it has the highest number of plastic surgeries in the world. There are countries way ahead of Iran in that (see here). But because the existing number of surgeries are disproportionately focused on the nose area. Using cosmetics and going under surgeries are growing trends among men in Iran. However, women still make up the largest consumers of cosmetics and surgeries. This means that the procedures are still considered ‘female beauty practices’.
‘Kill Me but Make Me Beautiful’ is a proverb that refers to the importance of beauty in women’s lives. By using it, you admit that beauty is so important for you, that you can risk your life for it. This is indeed a reality in the case of plastic surgeries. While there are no official statistics, it is known that plastic surgeries always carry several health risks. They can also be fatal. Look here for some scientific insights.
In the article ‘Kill Me but Make Me Beautiful: Harm and Agency in Female Beauty Practices in Contemporary Iran’, we address the social issues related to beauty practices and cosmetic surgeries. We explore young women’s attitudes towards them by using qualitative methods. We then contextualize the findings within the Iranian political and social context to make sense of them.
You can find the article abstract and the link to the original article published in ‘Iran and Caucasus‘ (2018) journal below.
Abstract:
In this paper, drawing on notions, such as harmful cultural practices and beauty, and based on semi-structured interviews with young female university students in Iran, perceptions and experiences on beauty practices and cosmetic surgery are studied.
We show how despite existing criticism of the gendered aspects of beauty practices among Iranian women who practice them, they are still practiced on a large scale. In contemporary Iran, the female body as a contested space for the expression of social capital is under influence by the globalized beauty standards that predominantly rely on Western beauty ideals. This article explores beauty practices and positions them in the religious and political discourses of body and corporeality in contemporary Iran.
This empirical study reveals that despite the popularity of particular practices in Iran, especially nose jobs, beauty is not perceived as a common good but as a necessary evil by young Iranian women. We discuss how beauty is perceived, articulated, practiced, and potentially resisted by young women in Iran.
The paper is a collaboration between Ladan Rahbari, Susan Dierickx, Chia Longman, and Gily Coene.
Citation: Rahbari, L., Dierickx, S., Longman, C., & Coene, G. (2018). ‘Kill Me but Make Me Beautiful’: Harm and Agency in Female Beauty Practices in Contemporary Iran. Iran and the Caucasus, 22(01), 50-60.
For accessing the paper click here.
Published by Ladan Rahbari
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