Ethical Relationships: Body Image

"Body image refers to the way a person perceives their physical appearance, how they feel about their perception, what they think and believe about their body, and how they behave as a result ... "

"Anabolic-androgenic steroid consumption is considered a significant public health issue in a number of countries but particularly in the northeast of England. Informed by ongoing ethnographic work on steroid use, this paper aims to explore two particular dimensions of bodily capital within the overarching context of hyper-masculinity. Towards this end we focus on aesthetic pleasure as the ‘boosted’ body becomes a site of contemporary consumption before taking a look at the instrumental utility derived from a sufficiently primed and tuned body. Accordingly, and with a view towards the changing currency of bodily capital, we explore the contemporary importance attached to both attaining and maintaining both elements of a
‘boosted’ bodily capital. The significant role steroids play in facilitating this is then discussed; yet rather than locating its consumption in the realm of ‘deviancy’, we view it as a means of hyper-conforming to neoliberalism’s cultural norms and values ... "

"There are numerous conflicts ensuing in the Middle East, but not all are being fought with rockets and rifles. While the Internet has proven invaluable to those who wish to uphold a patriarchal society and spread the message of Islamic fundamentalism, Muslim women have used the Web to build a transnational community intent on growing women's rights in the Middle East...'

"Although Islam is the fastest growing religion worldwide, only few studies have investigated body image in Muslim women, and no study has investigated body checking. Therefore, the present study examined whether body image, body checking, and disordered eating differ between veiled and unveiled Muslim women, Christian women, and atheist women...'

"The purpose of this paper was to determine whether there is a difference in the readiness to accept Western standards of beauty in which thinness is an ideal of beauty and attractiveness, as well in body and appearance satisfaction between Muslim adolescent girls attending madrassa and dressing in accordance with tradition, that is to say wearing hijab, and Muslim adolescent girls who do not wear hijab and who follow contemporary Western‐influenced fashion trends...'

"Globalisation has contributed to a heightened awareness of appearance and exposure to cosmetic surgery, through TV, the Internet, beauty celebrities, and Hollywood movies. When asked about this, the eminent Muslim scholar Shaikh Yūsuf al-Ḳaraḍāwī stated against what he defined as "Surgeries for beautification", but we find also other opinions which approve plastic surgery if it is used to treat a deformed organ where the operation will offer a better quality of life...'

Women from countries with conflicting views on cosmesis may avoid these procedures for the fear of being rejected by the community. Understanding the motives that drive patients from these countries to seek cosmetic procedures helps discern possible causes of postoperative dissatisfaction, which can be prevented by careful selection of patients and individualizing their management protocols.

"General Criteria and Conditions for Plastic Surgeries.."

'Although the psychological aspects of rhinoplasty have been fully investigated in the medical literature, the religiosity of rhinoplasty candidates has not been taken into consideration...'

'This study aims to investigate the relationship between individuals' attitudes about acceptance of aesthetic surgery (e.g. rhinoplasty, autoplasty, blepharoplasty, and mammaplasty) and some of the worship practices in Islamic religion such as performing prayer, fasting, and going to pilgrimage...'

'Islam welcomes plastic surgery, if performed for the patient’s benefit. Islam prohibits the cosmetic surgery that has the intention of changing the creation of God...'