Author Undergoes Face-Lift at 47, Questions Whether Surgery Conflicts With Feminism
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 12
Author Undergoes Face-Lift at 47, Questions Whether Surgery Conflicts With Feminism
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 12
Summary
At 47, the writer says she chose a deep plane face- and neck-lift after a plastic surgeon pointed out that the lower half of her face looked older than the top.
The operation left her looking younger and, by her account, more attractive; she says she does not regret it and rejects pretending the change came from sleep or hydration.
Her essay argues that women face both unrealistic beauty standards and dishonesty about how those standards are met, making cosmetic surgery a feminist dilemma rather than a simple vanity choice.
Family history sharpens that tension: she recalls her mother, author Erica Jong, getting a face-lift in her 50s, while other feminists around her rejected altering themselves for male approval.
The piece widens into a broader question about how women navigate looks, work, romance and visibility when beauty norms are still rooted, she argues, in misogyny.