Fitting In: Young British Women's Reported Experiences of Body Modification

This thesis investigates female cultures of body modification in contemporary Britain. I begin from the premise that women in current UK society are concerned about their appearance and subjected to significant media pressures to engage in body modification. By body modification I mean the methods which women use in order to alter their physical body and appearance. All methods (invasive or non-invasive; self-administered or other-administered; permanent or temporary) are considered, provided the intention of their use is primarily to alter the user’s physical appearance. Based on qualitative life-history interviews with thirty university-educated British women aged between eighteen and twenty-five my research investigates the choices of, motives for, influences on and relationships of women to their practices of body modification.

The analysis chapters of this thesis deal with three key stages in my participants’ development during which body modification emerged as important. These are the point when my participants went to school, their years at university and their entry into the world of work. The analysis chapters focus on these three stages. The first one explores participants’ initial engagement with and experience of body modification during the school years. The second centres on their use of body modification while at university, and the final analysis chapter explores their engagement with these practices in the world of work. I also discuss my participants’ expectation of their future engagement with body modification.

Unlike third-wave feminist discourse, which frequently refers to body modification in terms of freedom and choice, my findings offer a completely different understanding of women’s engagement in these practices. In the life stages I focus on, sociality and taking cue from others emerged as the most important aspects of women’s body modification decisions.