Body Enhancement

Body Enhancement 

In the most recent decades the body has been involved in many debates, it now faces more challenges than ever before. The limits of the body are being tested, as people become more and more intrigued by it (Hoeyer 2013). Does the human body have any boundaries?

“the term enhancement is usually used in bioethics to characterize interventions designed to improve human functioning beyond what is necessary to sustain or restore health” (Juengst, 1998:29, cited in: Conrad, 2007).  However Dubos (1959) argues that health has been socially constructed and because there is not a true definition of health where is the line between health and enhancement? Meulen, et al (2017) argues that enhancement of the body is seen as cheating because it is breaking the rules. This stems from the naturalistic perspective of the body, which is quite similar to the biomedical model of the body (Kirby, et al, 2000), because the body is seen as an object with organs that has biological functions which is constituted by nature (Mc Laren, 2012). Social constructions such as Connell (1987) found that the structure of the body is due to the social expectations society perceive (Connell, 1987, cited in: Kirby, et al, 2000).

The world is now bombarded with images from the television and magazines of how you should be ‘thin’ and ‘beautiful’ and if individuals constantly compare themselves they will always have a negative perception of their body image (Willett, 2006). Willett (2006) states that body image is influenced by a culture that is obsessed with your body shape, weight, food, exercise and being on a diet. This could then go onto an individual having a negative perception of their body because they are not what society expects them to look like and this is one of the most leading causes for body enhancement. Willett (2006) then goes onto say that individuals are not born with a negative body image of themselves and that it is down to society as to why individuals develop such things as anorexia nervosa or an eating disorder. Green & Lankford (2017) express that being healthy is most important regardless of your body shape or image (Green & Lankford, 2017), this is important to acknowledge with regards to illnesses such as anorexia nervosa and eating disorders because society feel they need to measure up to what is expected of them no matter what the cost (Willett, 2006).   

“The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are based on data from 2009-11. The previous figures from 2005-07 showed the average life expectancy of 81.7 years for women and 77.5 years for men” (Press Association, 2013). It is clear that people are now living longer than ever before, Bouson (2016) states that people are living long and healthy lives however society is constantly reminding people of their physical appearance that has lead people to have the desire to look younger by body enhancement.  A study by Honigam and Castle (2006) found that there was an increase by 33% in just 1 year for cosmetic surgery from 2002-2003. They explain that through social pressures the older people get the younger they want to look which they state is a money making scheme to get people to look younger. They believe that social pressures give people unrealistic expectations which leads to people spending a lot of money on procedures to enhance their bodies (Honigam & Castle, 2006). “In recent years corporate entities like the pharmaceutical industry and potential patients as consumers have begun to play more significant roles in medicalisation” (Conrad, 2007: 6) this demonstrates how the pharmaceutical industry now relies more on capital from the lay population and can be deemed as a money making scheme.

Illich’s theory of ‘Medical Imperialism’ (1975) also supports the idea of capitalism being a social factor with regards to medicalisation. It has been illustrated by Broom and Tovey (2009) that we ourselves as the lay public medicalise our own conditions by wanting to enhance our bodies by constructing ourselves. They state that current medical consumerism and medicine provide us with the opportunity to have a natural body even though it will be enhanced (Broom & Tovey, 2009). As it is shown that body enhancement can be medicalised to an extent, even though we still do not know the limits to the human body, body enhancement can be seen as not just to improve body image but to make money. Illich (1975) also states that people can depend on health care, with regards to body enhancement. Cosmetic surgeries may become addictive and people may start relying on surgeons or products to improve their body image. Even though this seems to be the case, as previously discussed by Juengst (1998) the term enhancement was to restore health rather than improving an individual’s body image to raise their self – esteem, which returns to the question where is the line between enhancement and health?

Broom, A. Tovey, P. (2009) Men’s Health: Body, Identity and Social Context, United Kingdom: Wiley Blackwell.

Bouson, J. B. (2016) Shame and the Aging Woman, United States of America: Springer.

Conrad, P. (2007) The Medicalisation of Society, United States of America: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Green, M. Lankford, R. (2017) Body Image and Body Shaming, New York: Green Haven Publishing.

Hoeyer, K. (2013) Exchanging Human Bodily Material: Rethinking Bodies and Markets, London: Springer Science & Business Media.

Honigam, R. Castle, D. (2006) Aging and cosmetic enhancement, Journal of Clinical Intervention and Ageing, 1(2): 115–119.

Illich, I. (1975) Medical Nemesis, New York: Pantheon Books.

Kirby, et al. (2000) Sociology in Perspective, Oxford: Heinemann.

Mc Laren, M. (2012) Feminism, Foucault, and Embodied Subjectivity, United States of America: State University of New York.

Willett, E. (2006) Negative Body Image, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.

Meulen, R. Hall, W. Mohammed, A. (2017) Rethinking Cognitive Enhancement, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Press Association, (2013) People living longer, but are they living healthier?  Available at: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/latest-news/archive/people-living-longer-but-are-they-living-healthier/ (Accessed: 1/5/2017).