'A second youth': pursuing happiness and respectability through cosmetic surgery in Finland

Abstract

The paper discusses cosmetic surgery in the Finnish cultural context. It is based on interviews with 22 women and men who underwent surgical procedures, 12 plastic surgeons, and two plastic surgery consultants. The article shows that surgery consumers over 55 years old discuss cosmetic surgery as an investment in a better quality of life. Consumers use cosmetic surgery to resist ageist stereotypes of old people and as compensation for tough life experiences which are believed to cause premature ageing. Although aimed at combatting negative attitudes towards old people, such efforts reproduce an ageist ideology by concealing the very qualities (e.g. wrinkles) associated with ageing. Finally, consumers use cosmetic surgery to correct perceived Finnish physical pathologies, such as heavy foreheads, sagging eyelids, and 'potato' noses, which make them seem less white, sadder, and older than they are. The traditional melancholic Finnish body is thus transformed via surgery to represent openness and positiveness - two qualities strongly associated with both youth and the Americanised ideal as it is touted in Finland. The article demonstrates that consumers use cosmetic surgery to transform both physical and emotional states and that cosmetic surgery must be understood as part of national and global cultural processes.