Susie Orbach Losing Bodies Summary

A Summary of “Losing Bodies” by Susie Orbach In “Losing Bodies,” Susie Orbach examines the influences that the media has on a person’s body. She gives insight on how many countries have really normalized plastic surgery because of Western influences and goes into detail about the different pressures people face about how their physical appearance compares to those we see on television or in our daily lives.

Orbach tells us the many instances in which media has had an effect on how people perceive their body. One instance is how a lot of mothers are now opting to have C-Sections at only eight months to achieve their pre-baby body by six weeks post-baby. The rise of this trend has been credited to celebrities who flaunt their post-baby bodies on magazine covers only weeks after giving birth. Another example of the media’s influence is when Friends started airing in Fiji. Before the show was broadcast there, there weren’t particularly any signs of bulimia, but three years later, it was reported

In these countries, cosmetic surgery have become the new trend. In Shanghai, breaking your thighs to become taller is the new trend. “In South Korea, 50 percent of teenage girls have double eyelid slit operation to Westernize the look of the eyelid” (Orbach 246). These odd operations are not only growing popular, but they’re also making the government rich. Countries such as Argentina and Singapore have found ways to profit of off people’s insecurities. Argentina, for example, has offered people with health insurance the right to two cosmetic surgeries annually or biannually. Singapore has turned cosmetic procedures in to a tourism attraction by opening a center for it. The popularity of cosmetic surgery has made those with unique appearances feels as if it’s a flaw. It took away their uniqueness and made them conform to society’s standards of what beauty