Mirivel Julien C
Department of Speech Communication, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, AR 72204-1099, USA.
Health Commun. 2008 Mar-Apr;23(2):153-70. doi: 10.1080/10410230801968203.
Cosmetic surgery is a controversial medical practice that is rapidly expanding in the United States. In 2004 alone, 9.2 million procedures were performed. From breast augmentation to tummy tuck, Americans are taking surgical/medical/health risks to alter their bodily appearance. Although many scholars have criticized the practice, few have looked closely at how plastic surgeons interact with prospective surgical candidates. This essay explores videotaped data of naturally occurring interactions between plastic surgeons and patients seeking to transform their physical appearance. Drawing on action-implicative discourse analysis (Tracy, 2005), the article describes plastic surgeons' embodied and discursive activities during a typical physical examination. The core analysis shows how the patient's body and its aesthetic features can be used by plastic surgeons as interpretive resources to promote the desirability of surgery. By touching excess tissue, pinching it, moving it, or applying tools and artifacts (e.g., tape measurer) on and around the body, plastic surgeons literally bring to life patients' bodily "flaws." Through their multimodal performance, I argue, plastic surgeons mark the desirability of surgical transformation. As medicine meets consumerism, medical activities turn persuasive, incrementally constructing the patient's body as a territory of surgical need.
整容手术是一种颇具争议的医疗行为，在美国正迅速扩张。仅在2004年，就进行了920万例手术。从隆胸到腹部除皱，美国人正冒着手术/医疗/健康风险来改变自己的外貌。尽管许多学者都批评这种行为，但很少有人仔细研究整形外科医生与潜在手术患者之间是如何互动的。本文探讨了整形外科医生与寻求改变外貌的患者之间自然发生的互动的录像数据。借鉴行动暗示性话语分析（特雷西，2005年），本文描述了整形外科医生在典型体格检查中的身体和话语活动。核心分析表明，整形外科医生如何将患者的身体及其美学特征用作解释资源，以提升手术的吸引力。通过触摸多余的组织、捏它、移动它，或在身体上及周围使用工具和器具（如卷尺），整形外科医生切实地让患者身体的“瑕疵”鲜活起来。我认为，通过他们的多模态表现，整形外科医生彰显了手术改造的吸引力。随着医学与消费主义相遇，医疗活动变得具有说服力，逐渐将患者的身体构建为手术需求的领地。
