Cosmetic Surgery in a Different Voice: The Case of Madame Noël

Cosmetic surgery emerged at the end of the 19th century in the U.S. and Europe. Like most branches of surgery, it is a ‘masculine’ medical specialty, both numerically and in terms of professional ‘ethos’. Given the role cosmetic surgery – and, more generally, the feminine beauty system – play in the disciplining and inferiorization of women's bodies, a feminist cosmetic surgeon would seem to be a contradiction in terms. It is hard to imagine how cosmetic surgery might be practiced in a way which is not, by definition, disempowering or demeaning to women. In this paper, I explore the unlikely combination of feminist cosmetic surgeon, using one of the pioneers of cosmetic surgery, Dr. Suzanne Noël, as an example. She was the first and most famous woman to practice cosmetic surgery, working in France at the beginning of this century. She was also an active feminist. Based on an analysis of the handbook she wrote in 1926, La Chirurgie Esthétique, Son Rôle Social in which she describes her views about her profession, her techniques and procedures, and the results of her operations, I tackle the question of whether Noël's approach might be regarded as a ‘feminine’ or even feminist way of doing cosmetic surgery – in short, an instance of surgery in ‘a different voice’. “The primary requisite for a good surgeon is to be a man – a man of courage.” Edmund Andrews. (1861). The Surgeon. Chicago Medical Examiner “Surgery involves bodies – those of surgeons as well as of patients … What does it mean when the body of the surgeon – the intrusive gazer, the violator, the recipient of sensory assaults – is that of a woman?” Joan Cassell. (1998). The Surgeon in the Woman's Body