‘Father of four, husband, triathlete’–assembling the male cosmetic surgeon in micro cultures of aesthetic health on Instagram

Abstract

In this article, I present a study of emerging and fast-growing practices of marketing cosmetic surgery on the social media platform Instagram by analyzing a corpus of fifteen Instagram profiles managed by Argentine cosmetic surgeons. I engage with the notion that cosmetic surgery, a field inscribed in a strong gendered binary, has historically relied upon the cultural and mediatized visibility of the female body, often casting the male cosmetic surgeon as professional and anonymous. Through an analysis rooted in assemblage theory, I argue that as male cosmetic surgeons become visible as protagonists of self-branding narratives on Instagram, gendered relationships of visibility and power in cosmetic surgery are re-opened for negotiation. I show how traditional notions of masculinity are transformed as the cosmetic surgeons perform affective, relational, and semiotic labor, and various surgeons showcase the procedures they are offering on their own bodies, collapsing the role of cosmetic surgeon and cosmetic surgery patient. I discuss how the ability of some cosmetic surgeons to project a successful self-image on Instagram affects the relationship with (future) patients and patients’ ability to access a specific surgeon as some cosmetic surgeons become ‘Instafamous’.