Week 6: Body Modification on Visual Social Media
This week’s topic centres around body modification on visual social media and how the need to improve one’s appearance has increased overwhelmingly in popularity. In this post I will be using the social media platform Instagram as an example, as it is a uniquely visual social media channel and is “naturally suited to plastic surgery” (Dorfman et al. 2018, pp. 332). Many celebrities have gotten aesthetic cosmetic surgery before and some even promote it on their social media sites, with the Kardashians and in particular, Kylie Jenner being heavily speculated to have had a Brazilian butt life or implants and her iconic lip fillers. However, due to the explosion of user-generated content online, this has resulted in a plethora of influencers referred to as ‘microcelebrities.’ These microcelebrities use a style of online performance in which individuals attempt to “gain the attention of a ‘following’ on social media through representations of their everyday lives” (Drenten et al. 2020, pp. 42). These ‘representations’ are often unrealistic highlight reels of the user’s life and since “influencer marketing on social media is now a multi-billion-dollar industry, expected to be valued between $5-10 billion by 2020” (MediaKix, 2018) social media influencers now have more power than ever over users and importantly, the younger generation.
After fending off rumours about aesthetic/cosmetic surgery, 26-year-old Australian influencer, Tammy Hembrow, admitted in her Q&A on her YouTube Channel to getting breast augmentation after giving birth to her daughter. She stated that she had gotten the surgery after she stopped breastfeeding her daughter, Sass, as she said “it sucked the life out of [her] boobs” and that “they were just little saggy pieces of skin after” (Tammy Hembrow, 2020) and wanted to undergo it for herself. Despite Tammy openly posting photos of her new boob job, she also has her own TammyFit workout programs and meal plans to promote growing a natural booty by proving this to her followers with her personal ‘before and after’ photos. Even though the constant exposure and normalisation of plastic surgery on social media can be damaging to youth’s mental health over time, I feel that influencers who are open about their surgery and those who also encourage working towards achieving your body goals naturally can have a positive impact on educating others about the risks and benefits of cosmetic surgery.
Here is a link to Tammy Hembrow’s Q&A YouTube video. Skip to 6:03 to watch her addressing her breast augmentation surgery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IygC9gzUx3U&t=731s
Dorfman, R, Vaca, E, Mahmood E, Fine, N, Schierle, C 2018, ‘Plastic Surgery-Related Hashtag Utilization on Instagram: Implications for Education and Marketing’, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 332-338
Drenten, J, Gurrieri, L, Tyler, M 2020, ‘Sexualised labour in digital culture: Instagram influencers, porn chic and the monetization of attention’, Gender Work Organ, 2020;27:41-66, <https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12354>
Mastroianni, B 2020, “Influencer admits to plastic surgery,” Sunshine Coast Daily, viewed 16 April, 2021, <https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/influencer-admits-to-plastic-surgery/4106344/>.
