Botox Nation: Changing the Face of America

244 Pages·2017·3.46 MB·English

by  Dana Berkowitz

Botox Nation
Intersections
Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Genders and Sexualities
General Editors: Michael Kimmel and Suzanna Walters
Sperm Counts: Overcome by Man’s One Marriage Under God: The Cam-
Most Precious Fluid paign to Promote Marriage in America
Lisa Jean Moore Melanie Heath
The Sexuality of Migration: Border Respect Yourself, Protect Yourself:
Crossings and Mexican Immigrant Men Latina Girls and Sexual Identity
Lionel Cantú, Jr. Lorena Garcia
Edited by Nancy A. Naples and Salva-
The Tolerance Trap: How God, Genes,
dor Vidal- Ortiz
and Good Intentions are Sabotaging
Moral Panics, Sex Panics: Fear and the Gay Equality
Fight over Sexual Rights Suzanna Danuta Walters
Edited by Gilbert Herdt
Fat Gay Men: Girth, Mirth, and the
Out in the Country: Youth, Media, and Politics of Stigma
Queer Visibility in Rural America Jason Whitesel
Mary L. Gray
Geisha of a Different Kind: Race and
Sapphistries: A Global History of Love Sexuality in Gaysian America
between Women C. Winter Han
Leila J. Rupp
Queering the Countryside: New Fron-
Strip Club: Gender, Power, and Sex tiers in Rural Queer Studies
Work Edited by Mary L. Gray, Colin R.
Kim Price- Glynn Johnson, and Brian J. Gilley
Sex for Life: From Virginity to Viagra, Beyond Monogamy: Polyamory and
How Sexuality Changes Throughout the Future of Polyqueer Sexualities
Our Lives Mimi Schippers
Edited by Laura M. Carpenter and
Brown Bodies, White Babies: The Poli-
John DeLamater
tics of Cross- Racial Surrogacy
The Bully Society: School Shootings Laura Harrison
and the Crisis of Bullying in America’s
Botox Nation: Changing the Face of
Schools
America
Jessie Klein
Dana Berkowitz
Botox Nation
Changing the Face of America
Dana Berkowitz
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
www.nyupress.org
© 2017 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the
author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Berkowitz, Dana, author.
Title: Botox nation : changing the face of america / Dana Berkowitz.
Description: New York : New York University Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016023915| ISBN 9781479847945 (cl : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781479825264 (pb : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Beauty, Personal. | Skin—Care and hygiene. | Botulinum toxin—
Therapeutic use. | Surgery, Plastic—Social aspects.
Classification: LCC RL87 .B465 2017 | DDC 646.7/2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016023915
New York University Press books are printed on acid- free paper, and their binding materials
are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppli-
ers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also available as an ebook
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1. Marketing Agelessness 33
2. The Turf War over Botox 70
3. Becoming the Botox User 100
4. Negotiating the Botoxed Self 121
5. Being in the Botoxed Body 139
Conclusion: The Perils of an Enhanced Society 163
Methodological Appendix 173
Notes 189
Bibliography 205
Index 223
About the Author 233
v

Acknowledgments
A great many people have dedicated their time, energy, support, gen-
erosity, and advice to me during the five years I spent researching and
writing this book. There would be no book without the generosity of
my participants. I am profoundly grateful to the women and men who
so generously shared their stories with me. To all of those people who
willingly sacrificed their time to speak with me, I owe you an inordinate
amount of gratitude. Thank you for trusting me to represent your views
fairly and honestly.
All of the research and writing that went into this book took place
while I was at Louisiana State University where the Department of So-
ciology and the Program for Women’s Studies and Gender Research en-
thusiastically supported my work. Many of my colleagues at LSU read
and commented on multiple drafts of this work, and countless others
provided me thoughtful feedback and suggestions along the way. I am
especially thankful to Justine Tinkler, Sarah Becker, Susan Dumais,
Katherine Stamps-M itchell, Benjamin Kahan, Debbie Goldgaber, Rachel
Hall, Bryan McCann, and Ashley Mack.
I have been tremendously lucky to be mentored by excellent sociolo-
gists over the years. I am particularly grateful to Peter and Patti Adler,
who adopted me as their student, friend, and surrogate niece. I am eter-
nally thankful for their expertise, honesty, and patience and for their
extensive constructive criticism, which nudged this book into new and
exciting directions.
My sincere appreciation goes to Linda Belgrave, whose passion for
critical scholarship made me the sociologist I am today. I am also es-
pecially indebted to William Marsiglio, who instilled in me his tireless
work ethic and ethnographic curiosity, without which this book would
vii
viii | Acknowledgments
not be possible. Linda and Bill, your fingerprints will always be found
on anything I write. I am also grateful to Michael Kimmel for taking
me under his wing and for always providing me insightful and candid
wisdom.
So many others have helped me along the way, reading drafts of
chapters, allowing me to bounce ideas off of them, and providing me
thoughtful feedback at all stages of the game. For this I am grateful to
Lisa Wade, D’Lane Compton, Danielle Dirks, Meggan Jordan, Emily
Mann, and Patrick Grzanka. My research assistants were instrumental
in helping me complete this project. Crystal Paul, you are an absolute
gem. Your organizational skills and attention to detail are unparalleled.
Thank you also to Leah Drakeford, Emily Blosser, Inga Kastrone, and
Tasia Kazi.
My research was made possible by several different grants. The LSU
College of Social Sciences and Humanities awarded me summer fund-
ing in 2011 and 2012 that provided me the monies to collect data for
this project. The Louisiana State Board of Regents generously awarded
me an Awards to Louisiana Artists and Scholars (ATLAS) Grant, which
provided me a year off from teaching in 2015– 2016 to finish writing this
book.
Many thanks to Ilene Kalish, my editor at NYU Press, who was ex-
cited about this project from the beginning and who never gave up on
me or this book. I am also grateful to her assistant editor, Caelyn Cobb,
and the series editors, Michael Kimmel (yet again) and Suzanna Wal-
ters. I also thank the anonymous peer reviewers for NYUP who gave me
valuable feedback on earlier drafts of this book.
Personal life feeds intellectual life, and I am indebted to my friends
and family for the various ways they have supported me personally and
emotionally. A close group of old friends deserves my deepest gratitude:
Rena, Gina, Nikki, and Jordana, I am so lucky to have had over twenty
years of friendship with such powerful and fearless women. My sister
Daryl has been my sidekick since birth, and I am so lucky to have her.
I am grateful to my parents for their help and encouragement and for
Acknowledgments | ix
their steadfast support of my work. Mom, I owe a special debt to you for
having me interview homeless families for my social studies project in
sixth grade, an experience that I am certain was responsible for planting
the seeds of the budding ethnographer and sociologist in me. Finally, to
Casey, who is unwavering in his support of me: Thank you for making
my personal life so fulfilling and for always telling me I am beautiful
with or without Botox.