Beauty Demands

Melanie Latham This is the sixth in a series of posts about whether advertisements for  cosmetic surgery and other beauty practices should be banned. Here Melanie Latham,  Reader in Law at Manchester Law School, and Co-Investigator of the Beauty Demands project, gives her thoughts. If you would like to contribute to this discussion please email your response to  Jan Kandiyali. Would you be in favour of banning all advertisements for non-invasive beauty treatments and/or cosmetic surgery? If you are not in favour of banning all advertisements would you be in favour of banning some - for instance for certain types of procedures? If so can you explain why for some and not all and how you would determine which should be advertised?Would you differentiate depending on where adverts were placed; for instance would you accept adverts in women's magazines where the intended audience is adult women, but not in public places where they would be seen by children?Alternative...

Dannielle Griffiths Alexandra Mullock In this post, Danielle Griffiths and Alexandra Mullock consider whether harmful non-therapeutic cosmetic surgery should be regarded as a legitimate medical treatment. Danielle is Research Fellow in Bioethics and Law within the institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester and Alexandra is Lecturer in Medical Law at the University of Manchester. Should non-therapeutic cosmetic surgery causing harm be regarded as legitimate medical treatment? As a matter of public policy, the criminal law prohibits consensual harmful activities unless they can be justified because they are medically necessary, or carried out in pursuit of legitimate sporting activity. Where surgery is concerned, provided it is in the best interests of the patient and is carried out by a qualified healthcare professional, there is no question that it falls within the medical exception to the criminal law and is thus lawful. Surgeons are...

This is the fifth in a series of posts about whether advertisements for  cosmetic surgery and other beauty practices should be banned. Here   Jean McHale , Professor of Health Care Law at Birmingham Law School, and Co-Investigator of the Beauty Demands project, gives her thoughts. If you would like to contribute to this discussion please email your response to  Jan Kandiyali. Would you be in favour of banning all advertisements for non-invasive beauty treatments and/or cosmetic surgery? If you are not in favour of banning all advertisements would you be in favour of banning some - for instance for certain types of procedures? If so can you explain why for some and not all and how you would determine which should be advertised?Would you differentiate depending on where adverts were placed; for instance would you accept adverts in women's magazines where the intended audience is adult women, but not in public places where they would be seen by children?Alternatively do yo...

In this post, Rikke Amundsen gives her thoughts on Chrissy Chambers' attempt to make legal history by prosecuting an ex-partner for posting revenge pornography of her online. Rikke is a member of the University of Cambridge's Centre for Gender Studies and a network member of the Beauty Demands project. On June 3rd, the Guardian published an article about Chrissy Chambers, a victim of revenge porn who is about to make legal history. Chambers is the first person in the UK to seek both a civil action for damages and criminal prosecution of an ex-partner for posting revenge porn online. As the revenge porn material involving Chambers was posted years ago, the new law criminalising revenge porn in the UK does not apply. Chambers will thus rely on a range of old laws in order to legally address her perpetrator. News coverage of cases like that of Chambers make part of a larger public debate in the UK on the legal steps that can be taken in order to challenge revenge porn o...

The Globalisation of Beauty University of Birmingham, Department of Philosophy and School of Law 14th -15th October This workshop focuses on whether a global dominant beauty norm is emerging; one with less cultural variation and less sites of resistance. Some practices suggest this is the case: the increasing popularity of the 'Asian eye lift' (sometimes claimed to be required for employment); the wish for 'golden skin' (shown by the popularity of skin lightening/tanning creams and procedures); and the increasingly global preference for 'thinness' (emerging in countries such as India and Nigeria, where 'ideals' have significantly altered). The implications for regulation of such a norm are considered, as a global norm might suggest global regulation, but there are notable tensions here. Within the EU there is the tension between concern to facilitate the free movement of goods and persons and the wish to maximise public health and use th...

Heather Widdows This is the fourth in a series of posts about whether advertisements for  cosmetic surgery and other beauty practices should be banned.  In this post, Heather Widdows , Professor of Global Ethics in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham, and Principal Investigator of the Beauty Demands project, gives her views. If you would like to contribute to this discussion please email your response to Jan Kandiyali. Would you be in favour of banning all advertisements for non-invasive beauty treatments and/or cosmetic surgery? If you are not in favour of banning all advertisements would you be in favour of banning some - for instance for certain types of procedures? If so can you explain why for some and not all and how you would determine which should be advertised? Would you differentiate depending on where adverts were placed; for instance would you accept adverts in women's magazines where the intended audience is adult women, but n...

This is the third in a series of posts about whether advertisements for  cosmetic surgery and other beauty practices should be banned. Here   Clare Chambers , Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, gives her thoughts on this question. If you would like to contribute to this discussion please email your response to Jan Kandiyali. Would you be in favour of banning all advertisements for non-invasive beauty treatments and/or cosmetic surgery? Certainly for cosmetic surgery, and I was a signatory to the original letter to that effect from the UK Feminista campaign. See http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/14/cosmetic-surgery-advertising-ban If you are not in favour of banning all advertisements would you be in favour of banning some - for instance for certain types of procedures? As for the non-invasive treatments: I generally dislike them, and would be happy if they were not advertised, but I think it would be difficult to construct a ...