Shame on You: Cosmetic Surgery and Class Transformation in '10 Years Younger’

Abstract

This article critically engages with the gender and class politics of contemporary makeover shows. Taking the British TV series 10 Years Younger as case study, it is argued that cosmetic surgery is being legitimized as a form of female empowerment within media discourse through narratives of individual choice and self-liberation. Whilst ‘transformations’ are figured as attainable to all women, they serve to reinforce class differences by identifying certain kinds of bodies as worthless, leaving unquestioned the cultural and economic resources required for access to and maintenance of the surgically transformed body.