Instagram and Our Perception of Beauty: The Similarities Between the Eugenics Movement and the Popularization of the Instagram Face
The early popularization of plastic surgery through makeover television and its connection to early ideas of eugenics and achieving “perfection” through the possession of certain features, reflects a complex interplay between societal norms, individual desires for physical perfection, and historical perspectives on the genetic erasure of ethnic features. Plastic surgery, initially developed to address reconstructive needs, has evolved into a widespread phenomenon influenced by societal ideals of beauty, which tend to favor those possessing white, Eurocentric features. The goals and reasons for modern use of plastic surgery for aesthetic purposes rather than reconstructive ones, compare to early eugenic concepts, implying that our contemporary perceptions of physical aesthetics and societal expectations are built on racist, purist ideals. I will be examining the modern surgical phenomenon of the “instagram face,” and how influencers and celebrities today look more and more alike due to plastic surgery trends, and how that desire for this “universal beauty” may be a modern form of eugenics.
The eugenics movement was an effort to use breeding as a tactic to eradicate ethnic features. Eugenics gained prominence as a pseudoscientific movement advocating for the improvement of the human population through the practice of selective breeding, allowing only certain people with certain traits to reproduce with each other, and forcibly sterilizing thousands of individuals under this legislation. This emphasis on achieving a supposed genetic ideal still influences today’s notions of physical attractiveness in what we see as beautiful versus what we view as undesirable.
Plastic surgery initially addressed reconstructive needs, and is still very important for people suffering from physical injuries that affect one’s outward appearance, such as burns or scars. It also has important gender affirming benefits that assist those suffering from gender dysphoria. Plastic surgery in the form of gender affirming care can be a necessary procedure for a trans gender or gender non-conforming person’s well being and survival. Access to gender affirming care can mean life or death for some people, and should be treated as such. However, plastic surgery is also often done for purely aesthetic reasons, in an effort to conform to a generalized ideal of beauty, rather than in an effort to appear more like one’s self, like in the case of gender affirming care. Unfortunately, this often leads to the removal of ethnic features. A very popular procedure is the surgical or nonsurgical rhinoplasty to make the nose appear smaller or to reduce the appearance of a nose bridge, a wider nose or more prominent nose bridge often being a trait closely associated with many people of color. This created an evolution of plastic surgery from its original reconstructive purposes to a tool for many non essential aesthetic alterations and enhancement. As plastic surgery emerged to heal injuries, it inadvertently intersected with eugenic ideals by offering a means to alter one's appearance in pursuit of an “idealized” aesthetic.
Plastic surgery, which was once exclusive to wealthy celebrities, became popularized through the media, beginning with its presence in makeover television. Alice Marwick discusses in, “There’s a Beautiful Girl Under All of That: Performing Hegemonic Femininity on Reality Television,” the early stages of the normalization of plastic surgery through makeover television such as “The Swan,” claiming that these shows “frame aesthetic surgery as a normal, even necessary, part of body work,” (263). The drastic changes made to female participants’ faces and bodies during these productions caused the natural female body to be seen as something problematic and unappealing to the viewers, as well as implied that it was necessary to associate a woman’s self worth to their body and its appearance. This is very closely associated with the belief in eugenics pseudoscience that physical appearance was tied to an individual’s personality and integrity. Certain physical traits were believed to signify different personality traits, closely tying a person’s appearance to their content of character and value in society.
Marwick also emphasizes that reality television perpetuates certain beauty ideals, like in “the Swan,” allowing for surgeons to pick apart women’s features for the audience to view, and “fix” the features that they deem to be flaws, deciding for the individual participants what is beautiful and not allowing them to have a say. Along with stripping these women of their agency, it creates an ideal in the eyes of the viewers. These forms of media impacted the shaping of notions of beauty, and began a certain expectation of what is beautiful in women and the disfavor of some naturally occuring traits of the female body.
The creation of a societal standard of beauty allowed for a form of governmentality that fell outside of an actual government legislature. It promoted the same ideas that eugenics did, without the aspect of it being forced governmentation. Laurie Ouellette emphasizes this point in “Makeover Television, Governmentality, and the Good Citizen,” claiming that these types of shows are utilizing the “cultural power of television” to manipulate viewers into holding themselves to and actively trying to conform to ideals portrayed on makeover shows and reality television (472). It created a societal pressure and expectation to conform to these standards. Rather than being enforced by the government itself, like the eugenics movement was, people began acting on it themselves because of their desire to achieve the ideal portrayed on television, and their conditioned association of physical beauty and personal value. Makeover shows became a form of indirect governmentality. The commodification of beauty and the accessibility of cosmetic procedures further blurred the lines between personal choice and societal expectations, creating a question of true agency as well as the ethical implications of the conformity to the beauty standard. The desire for a flawless appearance is a modern manifestation of the historical quest for genetic superiority, even though contemporary plastic surgery is driven more by individual choice than state-directed policies. The difference is in the change from a direct enforcement of a eurocentric standard of beauty through sterilization, to the manipulation of the audience into believing that they must conform while still creating a perception of free will.
The ethical considerations surrounding societal pressures for perfection and their strong association with governmentality in its similarities to eugenics poses the question of the potential consequences of conforming to these ideals. Although makeover television initiated this push for change and normalization of intense plastic surgery procedures, one of the more modern forms of governmentality in terms of physical appearance is the emergence of the “instagram face,” a term coined by Jia Tolentino in her article “The Age of the Instagram Face.” Tolentino describes this phenomenon as “the gradual emergence, among professionally beautiful women, of a single, cyborgian face,” in reference to celebrities like the Kardashians, as well as popular instagram influencers. These kinds of celebrities have continued to perpetuate equating beauty with individual value as they have become extremely wealthy because of their physical appearance alone, rather than from possessing a specific talent. Due to the idealization of one particular look, as plastic surgery became more accessible, celebrities and influencers alike created plastic surgery trends, like the BBL or buccal fat removal, inadvertently perpetuating the idea of a superior appearance while also highlighting specific procedures that would provide a checklist of surgeries to complete, fueling the need for engagement with beauty standards, and convincing others that they could achieve the same fame and wealth by going through these procedures as well.
The pursuit of beauty proves to be a question of conformity rather than an individual preference or choice of aesthetics. The devotion to beauty then becomes a question of ethics, whether an individual is willing to compromise themselves and their individuality for the social power and value associated with being conventionally attractive. The choice to embrace the uniqueness of one’s features rather than trying to hide or replace them therefore becomes an act of defiance and a rebellion against the established social standard.
Sources:
Alice Marwick, “There’s a Beautiful Girl Under All of That: Performing Hegemonic Femininity on Reality Television”
Laurie Ouellette, “Makeover television, governmentality, and the good citizen”