Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

To Learn the World Again: Examining the Impact of Elective Breast Surgery on Body Schema

  • Theoretical / Philosophical Paper
  • Published:
Human Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper comprises a feminist phenomenological exploration of women’s experiences with breast augmentation and breast reduction. Situating the results of semi-structured interviews in the context of body schema, this study discloses how women perceive, think, feel and respond to bodily change created by elective breast surgery. Women’s narratives express that breast augmentation and reduction shifted their conception of the lived body and its possibilities by provoking bodily reorientations and adjustments as well as changes in bodily sensations. In contrast with body image studies that emphasize elective breast surgery as transforming attitudes towards the body, this phenomenological investigation reveals that elective breast surgery also galvanizes a relearning of the world and a rearticulation of embodied doing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. There has been much debate, partially in light of the aforementioned problems of translation, as to whether Merleau-Ponty was referring to a (physiological) body schema or a (representational) body image in the Phenomenology. Many scholars, working from the 1962 translation that was, until recently, the only available English translation, understand Merleau-Ponty to be using the terms “body schema” and “body image” relatively interchangeably and some have done the same in their own work (Fielding 1996; Levin 2008; Weiss 1999). Much theoretical energy has been given to this question of the difference between body image and body schema, with some scholars arguing for separate conceptualizations and usages for these two concepts given their contentious history (e.g., Gallagher 2005; Gallagher and Zahavi 2013; Taipale 2014).

  2. I will use the term “body schema” to retain consistency with the translations of the Phenomenology.

  3. Schilder himself translated Image from German into English and, in so doing, translated Körperschema to “body image” (rather than the more literal “body schema”). The reason for this remains unknown. In fact, only a handful of instances of “body schema” occur in the text. Despite this, I will use “body schema” for consistency across the text. I will retain Schilder’s use when directly quoting from his text. To maintain consistency with the other writings I shall cite, I will not hyphenate body image, even though Schilder himself does.

  4. Specifically, Schilder refuses the distinction between leib (lived body) and korper (object body) (1950: 283).

  5. At the same time, Schilder notes that it is always in a state of dissolution because we lose parts of ourselves to the world (excrement, hair) and we project parts our ourselves into the world (voice, language).

  6. I am in agreement with Weiss’s (1999) assessment, but shall maintain the wording “the body images” for the purposes of readability.

References

  • Alcoff, L. M. (2006). Visible identities: Race, gender, and the self. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, A. P., & Jones, B. M. (2000). Patient satisfaction with Trilucent™ breast implants. British Journal of Plastic Surgery, 53(6), 479–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, J. L., Kolin, I. S., & Bartlett, E. S. (1974). Psychosexual dynamics of patients undergoing mammary augmentation. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 53(6), 652–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blood, S. K. (2005). Body work: The social construction of women’s body image. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogdanov-Berezovsky, A., Silberstein, E., Shoham, Y., & Krieger, Y. (2013). Capsular flap: New applications. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 37(2), 395–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carman, T. (1999). The body in Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. Philosophical Topics, 27(2), 205–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cash, T. F. (2004). Body image: Past, present, and future. Body image, 1(1), 1–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cash, T. F. (2008). The body image workbook: An eight-step program for learning to like your looks. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cash, T. F., Duel, L. A., & Perkins, L. L. (2002). Women’s psychosocial outcomes of breast augmentation with silicone gel-filled implants: A 2-year prospective study. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 109(6), 2112–2121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Boer, M., van der Hulst, R., & Slatman, J. (2015). The surprise of a breast reconstruction: A longitudinal phenomenological study to Women’s expectations about reconstructive surgery. Human Studies, 38(3), 409–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dolezal, L. (2015). The body and shame: Phenomenology, feminism, and the socially shaped body. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferreira, M. C., Costa, M. P., Cunha, M. S., Sakae, E., & Fels, K. W. (2003). Sensibility of the breast after reduction mammaplasty. Annals of Plastic Surgery, 51(1), 1–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fielding, H. (1996). Beyond the surface: Towards a feminist phenomenology of the body-as-depth. Ph.D. dissertation, York University. ProQuest, NN14662.

  • Gallagher, S. (2005). How the body shapes the mind. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher, S., & Zahavi, D. (2013). The phenomenological mind. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gladfelter, J., & Murphy, D. (2008). Breast augmentation motivations and satisfaction: A prospective study of more than 3000 silicone implantations. Plastic Surgical Nursing, 28(4), 170–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grogan, S. (2008). Body image: Understanding body dissatisfaction in men, women and children. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosz, E. A. (1994). Volatile bodies: Toward a corporeal feminism. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hagerty, R. C., & Uflacker, A. (2009). Central mound technique for breast reduction. In M. A. Shiffman (Ed.), Mastopexy and breast reduction (401–406). Berlin: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hanley, F. (2005). The dynamic body image and the moving body: Revisiting Schilder’s theory for psychological research. Scan Journal 2(2).

  • Heyes, C. J. (2009). Diagnosing culture: Body dysmorphic disorder and cosmetic surgery. Body & Society, 15(4), 73–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kruks, S. (2014). Women’s ‘Lived Experience’: Feminism and phenomenology from Simone de Beauvoir. In M. Evans, C. Hemmings, M. Henry, H. Johnstone, S. Madhok, A. Plomien, & S. Wearing (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of feminist theory (75–92). London: Sage Publications.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Leder, D. (1990). The absent body. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin, J. (2008). Bodies and subjects in Merleau-Ponty and Foucault: Towards a phenomenological/poststructuralist feminist theory of embodied subjectivity. Ph.D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University. https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/8186. Accessed 31 July 2016.

  • Lipworth, L., & McLaughlin, J. K. (2010). Excess suicide risk and other external causes of death among women with cosmetic breast implants: A neglected research priority. Current Psychiatry Reports, 12(3), 234–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merleau-Ponty, M. (2007a). An unpublished text by Maurice Merleau-Ponty: A prospectus of his work. In T. Toadvine & L. Lawlor (Eds.), The Merleau-Ponty reader (pp. 283–290). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merleau-Ponty, M. (2007b). The child’s relations with others. In T. Toadvine & L. Lawlor (Eds.), The Merleau-Ponty reader (143–183). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merleau-Ponty, M. (2013) Phenomenology of perception (D. A. Landes, Trans.). London: Routledge.

  • Millsted, R., & Frith, H. (2003). Being large-breasted: Women neogitating embodiment. Women’s Studies International Forum, 26(5), 455–465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mishara, A. (2005). Body self and its narrative representation in schizophrenia: Does the body schema help establish a core deficit? In H. De Preester & V. Knockaert (Eds.), Body image and body schema: Interdisciplinary perspectives on the body (127–152). Amsterdam, NL: John Benjamins Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Moi, T. (1999). What is a woman? Sex, gender, and the body in feminist theory. In T. Moi (Ed.), What is a woman? And other essays (3–120). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reich, J. (1974). The surgical improvement in appearance of the female body. The Medical Journal of Australia, 2(21), 767–774.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarwer, D. B., & Crerand, C. E. (2004). Body image and cosmetic medical treatments. Body Image, 1(1), 99–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarwer, D. B., Grossbart, T. A., & Didie, E. R. (2002). Beauty and society. Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery, 22(2), 79–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schilder, P. (1950). The image and appearance of the human body. New York: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheets-Johnstone, M. (2005). What are we naming? In H. De Preester & V. Knockaert (Eds.), Body image and body schema: Interdisciplinary perspectives on the body (211–231). Amsterdam, NL: John Benjamins Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Slatman, J. (2007). Recognition beyond narcissism: Imaging the body’s ownness and strangeness. In H. Fielding, G. Hiltmann, D. Olkowski, & A. Reichold (Eds.), The other: Feminist reflections in ethics (186–204). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Slatman, J. (2012). Phenomenology of bodily integrity in disfiguring breast cancer. Hypatia, 27(2), 281–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slatman, J. (2016). Is it possible to ‘Incorporate’ a scar?: Revisiting a basic concept in phenomenology. Human Studies, 39, 347–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slatman, J., Halsema, A., & Meershoek, A. (2016). Responding to scars after breast surgery. Qualitative Health Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732315591146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sperlingl, M. L., Høimyrl, H., Finnerupl, K., Jensenl, T. S., & Finnerupl, N. B. (2011). Persistent pain and sensory changes following cosmetic breast augmentation. European Journal of Pain, 15(3), 328–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taipale, J. (2014). Phenomenology and embodiment: Husserl and the constitution of subjectivity. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toombs, S. K. (1992). The meaning of illness: The phenomenological account of the different perspectives of physician and patient. Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Toombs, S. K. (2001). Introduction: Phenomenology and medicine. In S. K. Tooms (Ed.), Handbook of phenomenology and medicine (1–26). Dordrecht, NL: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, G. (1999). Body images: Embodiment as intercorporeality. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, I. M. (2005). On female body experience: “Throwing like a Girl” and other essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3, Canada

    Sara Rodrigues

Authors
  1. Sara Rodrigues
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sara Rodrigues.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rodrigues, S. To Learn the World Again: Examining the Impact of Elective Breast Surgery on Body Schema. Hum Stud 41, 255–273 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-018-9462-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-018-9462-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation