Posted at Mar 25/2006 05:01PM:
Sebastian De Vivo: Brian, it was great to see you pull off your project with such grace! You begin with your question regarding breast implants, and follow several fascinating connections, including evolutionary psychology and, of course, when implants go wrong. Your use of imagery throughout serves to illustrate your project well. The navigations is clear, your timeline informative and useful. You bring in several issues raised in the lectures. Wonderful project -- great job!
FINAL PROJECT: http://www.stanford.edu/~brian308/Breast%20Implant%20Project/Front%20Page.htm
http://www.stanford.edu/~brian308/Consultation.avi
If you watch Nip/Tuck, you probably know the above video clip as the one from the episode where Julia gets a breast implant, believing that it will help her with her ailing love life. But that's not the interesting part...the interesting idea given in the clip is the idea of women suffering from a new disease/disorder found in society today--micromastia (small-breastedness). In this clip the plastic surgeon voices the concern of many women and speaks to society's appraisal of large breasts to the extent that small breasts are seen as deviant/malfunctioning. Small breasts seem to need to be remedied by use of technology. In this project I aim to explore reasons why breasts have become as powerful/necessary as they are today by unpacking the silicone breast implant.
In examining the breast implant, one need understand the work it does; to do this I will look to cultural and sociobiological arguments for the function of large breasts. What is their function? What is their attraction?
What is an ideal breast and how has it come to exist?
How have breasts come to garner the public image they do today?
The idea of body modification, society's comfortability with changing the body to fit a certain ideal.
A Chicken/Egg question: what came first and made the push for implants? the demand for big breasts or the ability to operate on breasts? (Technology and its influence on society)
Principles of Augmentation - How?
Risk & Willingness to take risks (technology vs. society)
Societal/Cultural Implications for breast implant surgery (technology transforming the experience of life)
Cyborg idea: we by ourselves are not enough; dependence on technology
Project thus far: http://www.stanford.edu/~brian308/Brian%20Nguyen%20-%20Breast%20Implant.htm
Posted at Feb 21/2006 11:43AM:
[klfsong]: How are the social responses from getting a breast reduction different from getting breast implants? Is it the woman who usually wants or someother social pressure that forces her to do it?
Posted at Feb 27/2006 11:03PM:
[Abayomi Fashoro]: It would also be interesting to see what kind of negative responses to breast implants arise among both women and men.
Posted at Mar 02/2006 02:48PM:
[Maggie]: I am OBSESSED with Nip/Tuck (although I am watching the show on DVDs so I've only almost completed Season 2... I'm trying to devour each one). I think another interesting clip you could possibly talk about is when that man decides to get breast implants in order to experience what his breast-cancer survivor wife had to go through before she had a masectomy. I remember hearing a story in the news a few years ago about a man who accepted a bet from his friend to get implants for a year. Men and breast implants is definitely an amusing topic I'd like to read about in your project.
Posted at Mar 02/2006 03:22PM:
[Justin Carl]: Another thing you might want to look at is why are some cultures/societies much more into plastic surgery (i.e. Korea, which has one of the highest rates of plastic surgery in the world.)
Posted at Mar 15/2006 01:44AM:
Tammy Wang: Though it sounds a little strange, one might argue that the breast implant empowers women by reinforcing their feminity (whereas the typical argument is that they are catering to the social standard of beauty). What is more undeniably female than the breast? It is so provocative, so visible, that it is almost like a tool that women can use over men. With an intimidating pair of breasts, a woman can stun, can dazzle, can ... manipulate (?) as she wishes.
