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Book Cover
E-book
Author Edmonds, Alexander, 1970-

Title Pretty modern : beauty, sex, and plastic surgery in Brazil / Alexander Edmonds
Published Durham [N.C.] : Duke University Press, 2010

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Description 1 online resource (297 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations (some color)
Series e-Duke books scholarly collection.
Contents Siliconadas -- The philosopher of plástica -- Without tits there is no paradise -- A brief history of self-esteem -- Hospital school -- The right to beauty -- Aesthetic health -- Preta -- Magnificent miscegenation -- The national passion -- Nanci's rhinoplasty -- My Black is my brand -- Role models -- The economy of appearances -- Creating and modeling nature -- Aesthetic medicine and motherhood -- The vanity of maids -- Lens of dreams -- I love myself
Summary Pretty Modern is a riveting account of Brazil's emergence as a global leader in plastic surgery. Intrigued by a Carnaval parade that mysteriously paid homage to a Rio de Janeiro plastic surgeon, anthropologist Alexander Edmonds conducted research that took him from Ipanema socialite circles to glitzy telenovela studios to the packed waiting rooms of public hospitals offering free cosmetic surgery. The result is provocative exploration of the erotic, commercial, and intimate aspects of beauty in a nation with extremes of wealth and poverty and a reputation for natural sensuality. Drawing on conversations with maids and their elite mistresses, divorced housewives, black celebrities, and favela residents aspiring to be fashion models, Edmonds analyzes what sexual desirability means and does for women in different social positions. He argues that beauty is a distinct realm of modern experience that does not simply reflect other inequalities. It mimics the ambiguous emancipatory potential of capital, challenging traditional hierarchies while luring consumers into a sexual culture that reduces the body to the brute biological criteria of attractiveness. Illustrated with color photographs, Pretty Modern offers a fresh theoretical perspective on the significance of female beauty in consumer capitalism
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-285) and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Surgery, Plastic -- Social aspects -- Brazil
Beauty, Personal -- Social aspects -- Brazil
Aesthetics.
Social values.
Beauty
Surgery, Plastic -- economics
Body Image
Sexual Behavior
Social Values
Socioeconomic Factors
HEALTH & FITNESS -- Beauty & Grooming.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
Social values
Aesthetics
Beauty, Personal -- Social aspects
Surgery, Plastic -- Social aspects
Schönheitsideal
Kosmetische Chirurgie
Plastische chirurgie.
Seksualiteit.
Schoonheidsideaal.
SUBJECT Brazil
Subject Brazil
Brasilien
Brazilië
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780822393115
0822393115
1283251876
9781283251877
9786613251879
6613251879