Golden State Transformations
In California, groups of all ethnicities have vied to transform themselves into a Caucasian standard of beauty. Jewish women undergo rhinoplasty, or "nose jobs," and African Americans have undergone the same, along with lip reductions and skin lightening.
Despite an era that seems, at least superficially, to celebrate multiculturalism, these procedures suggest that many women still nonetheless experience physical characteristics that indicate ethnicity as negative features. For Asians, ethnically defined by their unique eyes, eyelid surgery is a particularly dramatic example.
The Alexandria, Va.-based American Academy of Facial, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery reported that 125,000 blepharoplasty procedures were performed in 2000 in the United States.
The numbers are highest in California, where both the Asian and plastic surgeon populations are growing rapidly. A study by the American Academy of Facial, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery also indicates that facial cosmetic and reconstructive surgery increased exponentially among minorities from 1999 to 2001. It has more than quadrupled among Asian Americans, compared to a just 34 percent increase among Caucasians.
Carrie Ching, the Chinese-American editor of New York based Monolid Magazine, has led a mini-crusade against the surgery, evidenced by the magazine's provocative name.
"It's unfortunate that for many Asian-American women there's peer pressure and pressure from parents to assimilate to white culture," Ching said. "We're just living in an environment that pollutes the culture."
Martin Wong is editor of Giant Robot, a Los Angeles-based magazine for young Asian-Americans that focuses on art and culture. He believes that the impulse behind the surgery is coming from the older generation of Asian women, particularly the new immigrants who are pushing their children to assimilate.
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