Post-baby butchery

I pity the silly Californian plastic surgeon who says this about the post-baby body, according to the New York Times:

“The severe physical trauma of pregnancy, childbirth and breast-feeding can have profound negative effects that cause women to lose their hourglass figures,” he said.

Dr. David Stoker and his colleagues at Marina Plastic Surgery Associates (MPSA) only highlight a disturbing and ever-growing trend capitalising on the butchery of post-baby bodies. Called a 'mommy makeover' the MPSA website plays on women's bodily insecurities with their slogan 'Embrace the feeling of a being a woman' as a ploy to encourage women to have their bodies cut apart and fat sucked out with the promise of being a happier, better mother.

Before people start writing in and saying women can choose to have surgery if they feel the need, well, hold on because I am not judging anyone's choices here. My problem with the 'mommy makeover' is that it introduces medical management and pathologises the post-baby body as a problem to fixed. Furthermore, it implies that the only way women can ever be fulfilled is if they have an 'hourglass figure' (which by the way, is pretty much disappearing as women's bodies have so dramatically changed shape over the past 40 years).

The post-baby surgery makeover is framed as an empowering haven for women who 'hate' their stretch marks and excess 'fat' and also primes women for anxiety about their 'shameful' bodies. This is a particularly dangerous construction because empowerment and liberation are actually equated with intense scrutiny of the post-baby body. Women now must have a perfect birth, be a 'good' mother and show no physical signs of having experienced the process. As mothers are juggling working with motherhood, this post-baby surgery ploy is just another 'shift' in which women need to negotiate their body image and 'bouncing back' as if it was another job. Even more unsettling is that the exaggerated importance of having a perfectly slender post-baby body guarantees men an unimpeded brand of female sexuality and in a number of ways masculinises women's bodies by allowing them to slip in and out of 'reproduction' without even breaking a sweat. Using surgery as an answer to women's bodily anxieties only creates beauty hierarchies among women: the attractive alpha mothers who 'bounce back' are always on top because they are beautiful and fit and the 'fat' 'unattractive' mothers are seen as lazy and value-less.

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/fashion/04skin.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&oref=slogin
http://www.amommymakeover.com/