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body modification practices in today’s society. The 11 positive transformative experiences shown in some mass media regarding cosmetic surgery have attempted to de-gender these practices, legitimize them socially and popularize them in our culture (Adams 2009). “Body Modifications and Young Adults: Predictors of Intentions to Engage in Future Body Modification” (2010) by Cynthia Rodriguez Cano and Doreen Sams examined the likelihood that college students who have already engaged in body modification will do so again. Body modification is a way for young adults to express control over their bodies and identities. Individual’s identities are created and change as the world changes around them. Those who alter their bodies through modification nonverbally communicate their identity to others and express their group affiliations and other relationships. Cultural experiences can be influenced by the generational status and age of individuals and the decisions that those individuals make at different stages in life. This study consisted of a sample size of 454 college students and seventy-seven percent of the participants had engaged in some kind of body modification and intend to continue plastic surgery and tattoos in large numbers in the future. This study showed a strong positive relationship between previous and future likelihood to pursue body modifications and suggests that attitudes and perceptions change as self-expression does. College students are more likely to engage in body modification because younger individuals tend to be vain and impulsive (Rodriguez Cano and Sams 2010). The emergence of plastic surgery reality television and television reality makeover shows has created a culture that focuses on the cosmetic gaze, “the search for the younger more productive sexual self “(Wegenstein 2012), and targets assumptions, desires and images of audiences who want to have transformative experiences themselves. In The 12 Cosmetic Gaze, Bernadette Wegenstein talks about the normalization techniques that are used to make body modification and self-adjustment part of popular culture. Wegestein argues that watching these transformative experiences on television makes body and body image one. Determining beauty and understanding beauty standards in our society has contributed to this wave of presenting body modification on a public stage. Individuals who begin their transformative experience as average or beautiful can become beautiful or really beautiful with plastic surgery. Current statistics show that the age of individuals who are undergo cosmetic procedures has gotten younger. “In the United States in 2006, 16,477 rhinoplasties, 7,915 Botox injections, and 5,423 Hylaform/Restylane injections were performed on adolescents who were eighteen years and younger” (113). Wegestein attributes this to the quick fix mentality of younger generations and the celebrity culture that is prominent in everyday life. Part of celebrity culture includes the new wave of reality television celebrities who arose with the reality TV revolution of the early two-thousands. Viewers watch these programs and see “real people” with whom they can identify. People in cosmetic surgery reality television programs show others that real bodies can be media bodies and present plastic surgery as accessible to all. The increase of these programs since their inception has contributed to the increase in cosmetic surgery done in the United States. The increased media coverage of this topic has exposed individuals to a culture that could alter one’s perception of physical attractiveness, body image and the practice of plastic surgery. Wegestein conducted an in-study in Buffalo, New York and Los Angeles, California (2004, 2005, 2006) of college-aged females and males about viewing patterns of The Swan (Fox) and I Want a Famous Face (MTV). The results showed that Buffalo 13 students watch these shows more and exhibit more beauty anxiety than students in Los Angeles. Women were generally more likely to watch the shows than men and to feel increased body anxiety. The reality television market has created a vicious cycle where individuals who watch feel anxious and those who feel anxious watch. Body modification has become normalized in today’s society because of the media exposure and the way that plastic surgery procedures are presented. V. Attitudes towards Cosmetic Surgery in College Students Studies have examined college women’s attitudes towards cosmetic surgery because cosmetic surgery is culturally and socially viewed as a gendered activity (HendersonKing and Brooks 2009). The experiences that women have with their bodies are subject to objectification and lead to participation in activities that enhance physical appearance. Some of the pressures women feel to monitor and alter their bodies come from media conglomerates, corporations, celebrities and techniques that support unrealistic beauty standards of today’s society. In “Materialism, Sociocultural Appearance Messages, and Paternal Attitudes Predict College Women’s Attitudes about Cosmetic Surgery” (2009) by Henderson-King and Brooks, a positive relationship between internalization of social standards and acceptance of cosmetic surgery procedures was identified. Women who accept sociocultural messages
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