Exploring male femininity in the 'crisis': Men and cosmetic surgery

Once exclusively interpreted as the embodiment of docile femininity, cosmetic surgery is now inserted into the body modification practices of more Canadian men. An inspection of the most common cosmetic procedures highlights how men aesthetically modify their bodies as 'masks of masculinity'. In building on ethnographic, interview and archival data gathered on men's involvement in cosmetic surgery in Canada in the past five years, this article discusses how shifts in post-industrial work patterns, power relations between the genders, and ideologies of technological-scientific consumption impact some men's understandings of acceptable corporeal performance. These men's preferences for and sensibilities about cosmetic surgery are contextualized within a perceived 'crisis of masculinity' in Canada, and linked to Elias's description of civilizing processes.