The Perfect Vagina: Cosmetic Surgery in the Twenty-First Century

An ethnographic account of women who choose FGCS (female genital cosmetic surgery) in Australia and the physicians who perform these procedures, also examining the environment in which surgeons and women come together. McDougall offers a nuanced picture of why and how these procedures are performed and draws parallels between FGCS and anthropological discussions of female genital circumcision (cutting). Using the neologism biomagical, she argues that cosmetic surgery functions as both ritual and sacrifice due to its promise of transformation while simultaneously submitting the body to the risks and pain of surgery, thus exposing biomedicine as an increasingly cultural and commercial pursuit. This book highlights the complexities involved with FGCS, its role in Western beauty culture, and the creation and control of body image in countries where self-care is valorized and medicine is increasingly harnessed for enhancement as well as health. (Short Discount)