Expressive Surfaces: The Case of the Designer Vagina. (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jones, Meredith
• Is Part Of: Theory, culture & society. Volume 34:Number 7/8(2017:Dec.)
• Page Start: 29
• Page End: 50
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: cosmetic surgery -- labiaplasty -- screen -- skin -- surface studies; Social sciences -- Periodicals; 301.05
• DOI: 10.1177/0263276417736592
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0263-2764

Abstract

In this article I set out an argument that skins and screens, once distinctly different types of surface, are merging. I show how in contemporary highly mediatized worlds skins are required to be visually expressive while also noting a parallel movement whereby screens are becoming more affective. Using the 'designer vagina' – specifically labiaplasty – as a case study I show how ideal bodies exist simultaneously as screen and as skin, as image and as affect. In turn, I argue that two-dimensional images and three-dimensional 'real life' bodies are blending in ways that parallel skin–screen mergers.