WEBVTT - Feminism and plastic surgery

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<v Speaker 1>There'll be an inquiry into the cosmetic surgery industry after

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<v Speaker 1>a raft of botch beauty procedures, everything from life persuction

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<v Speaker 1>to breast implants and even but uplifts. For sure, that's

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<v Speaker 1>bad enough in itself, but more broadly, it raises bigger

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<v Speaker 1>questions about women and their body image. Indeed, a fair

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<v Speaker 1>minded observer might conclude that the cosmetic surgery industry was

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<v Speaker 1>built on making young women feel bad about their looks.

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<v Speaker 1>Why are women surrendering to the cosmetic industry's ideal of

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<v Speaker 1>female beauty? Eva Cox, you're a proud feminist. Does it

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<v Speaker 1>sadden you to see so many young women feeling the

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<v Speaker 1>need to get cosmetic beauty procedures.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm not sure it saddened to me or puzzle to me.

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<v Speaker 2>I can't look out why, you know, because we're supposed

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<v Speaker 2>to be feeling good about ourselves. You don't feel good

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<v Speaker 2>about yourself If you want to sort of go to

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<v Speaker 2>the cosmetic surgeon to sort of add bits to your

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<v Speaker 2>titsul admits to your bottom, or to take away a

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<v Speaker 2>bit from here and a bit from there, it sounds

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<v Speaker 2>wasteful and cruel in a sense. I really wonder where

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<v Speaker 2>the young women are coming from where that becomes so important.

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<v Speaker 2>I think one of the points about feminism was to

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<v Speaker 2>get is less feeling that we had to sell our

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<v Speaker 2>bodies for you know, for comforter or pleasure.

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<v Speaker 1>More on that later, because it's got to be worth

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<v Speaker 1>noting that most of these cosmetic surgeons are male. So

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<v Speaker 1>you've got men prescribing an ideal of female beauty.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, they've been doing that forever. That's on the point

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<v Speaker 2>about it is, you know that the idea is because

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<v Speaker 2>you know, women had to sort of sell their appearance

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<v Speaker 2>and their capacities to men to sort of put up

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<v Speaker 2>with the fact that the men have been supposed to

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<v Speaker 2>take care of them for the rest of their lives

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<v Speaker 2>or various other ways of doing it, that we really

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<v Speaker 2>haven't got through the idea that there's a genuine male

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<v Speaker 2>and female partnership which would depend on a range of

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<v Speaker 2>relationship attraction things and not just on the physical bumps

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<v Speaker 2>stick out in particular ways or don't stick out enough,

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<v Speaker 2>or whatever happens to me. I mean, I just am

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<v Speaker 2>appalled about the level of women that sort of feel

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<v Speaker 2>they've got to adjust their bodies, and it's often not

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<v Speaker 2>even because of men, but because of things in magazines

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<v Speaker 2>or online or whatever it is.

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<v Speaker 1>What about social media? Is it fair to say social

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<v Speaker 1>media plays a crucial role in heightening female body image issues.

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<v Speaker 2>I think social media does, and I gather this is

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<v Speaker 2>where these cosmetic surgeons or cosmetic doctors are not really surgents,

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<v Speaker 2>constantly sort of advertised because that's where they get the

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<v Speaker 2>women and sort of convince them that if they don't

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<v Speaker 2>get their laby as trimmed, that they're going to be

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<v Speaker 2>soon as unattractive.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm talking with feminist Eva Cox. Either women seemingly get

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<v Speaker 1>boob jobs, buttocklyphs and the rest to please men. So

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<v Speaker 1>has feminism failed women or have they simply rejected feminism.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know whether they've rejected feminism. I think what

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<v Speaker 2>feminism gives a sort of mixed message to say of

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<v Speaker 2>them in the way that they do it in so

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<v Speaker 2>far as they feel they have the right to have

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<v Speaker 2>the body that makes them feel good. I don't even

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<v Speaker 2>know how fight's to do with the attraction of men

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<v Speaker 2>or how fight is to do we're just looking good

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<v Speaker 2>for the general community at large. But certainly there is

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<v Speaker 2>a sense where women feel one of the rights that

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<v Speaker 2>feminism has imposed on them is the right to sort

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<v Speaker 2>of make their body look whatever they think it ought

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<v Speaker 2>to be. And I'm not sure they actually, as I say,

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<v Speaker 2>responding to individual men, or even responding to individual cosmetic surgeons.

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<v Speaker 2>It's just that sort of feeling that somehow or other,

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<v Speaker 2>we've got to look like some sort of plastic doll.

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<v Speaker 2>I think what feminism has done is fail to give

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<v Speaker 2>women enough of a good sense of who they are

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<v Speaker 2>that their body in toto is taken into account and

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<v Speaker 2>not whether they stick out in an appropriate way in

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<v Speaker 2>various sexual or even non sexual things.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you think young women, especially see feminism as something

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<v Speaker 1>that doesn't matter to them.

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<v Speaker 2>No, I think they get confused about it and say,

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<v Speaker 2>feminism is about my freedom to do whatever I want,

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<v Speaker 2>in the same way that there's a whole lot of

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<v Speaker 2>politics at the moment that seems to be saying exactly

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<v Speaker 2>that sort of stuff, that that sort of emphasis on.

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<v Speaker 1>Self feminism. Isn't it about freedom from mild oppression?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I mean you can put that in, but I

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<v Speaker 2>think feminism is basically about the recognition of all of

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<v Speaker 2>those things that we tend to put down because that's

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<v Speaker 2>what women do. If you take a look at the

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<v Speaker 2>world generally. You know that care is actually undervalued and

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<v Speaker 2>underpaid sort of, you know that the contributions we make

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<v Speaker 2>are undervalued and underpaid. That it's what we look that

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<v Speaker 2>seems to be important.

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<v Speaker 1>I've got to ask you, do women still need feminism either.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, because we're still in a world that's entirely run

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<v Speaker 2>by men. I mean, we wouldn't have made such quite

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<v Speaker 2>a stuff up of a lot of the politics at

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<v Speaker 2>the moment if we were sort of concerned about society

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<v Speaker 2>and not concerned about bloody economics, which is something that

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<v Speaker 2>was definitely that seems to have a penis erected amongst

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<v Speaker 2>the you know, the various figures, because it doesn't seem

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<v Speaker 2>to deal with emotions, it doesn't deal with relationships, it

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<v Speaker 2>doesn't deal with society, it doesn't deal with obligations, it

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<v Speaker 2>doesn't deal with ethics, it doesn't making a profit. And

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<v Speaker 2>that's you know what blokes And I mean, I feel

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<v Speaker 2>sorry for blokes because they very often get forced into

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<v Speaker 2>the idea that if they're not making a profit, they're

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<v Speaker 2>not a real man. So, I mean, we've still got

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<v Speaker 2>huge inequalities about power, relationship, what's good and what's bad.

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<v Speaker 1>We got into the place where cosmetic beauty became the ideal.

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<v Speaker 2>It becomes a product, becausmetics makes us a product, and

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<v Speaker 2>a product is saleable.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks very much either God bless you, and thanks for

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<v Speaker 1>talking to us tonight.

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<v Speaker 2>It was a pleasure.