Religion and the Body: The Impact of Faith on Plastic Surgery Decisions Among Muslim Women in Turkey

This paper draws on qualitative research to explore how religious salience affects perception of plastic surgeries—both reconstructive and cosmetic—among pious Muslim women in Turkey and how these women reconcile potential conflicts between beauty norms, Islamic values, and their agencies. ISAPS Report indicates a continuous rise in plastic surgeries in 2022, with a 41.3% increase over the last four years. According to the report, Turkey, as a Muslim-majority country, ranks 9th globally in terms of plastic surgeries. This upward trend in plastic surgeries in Turkey raises the question of how it can be interpreted, particularly in conjunction with Islam, notably cautious among Semitic religions regarding religious rules and values related to these procedures. According to Islamic law, cosmetic surgery is deemed impermissible when its objective is to enhance the appearance of an already functional and "normal" body structure solely for attractiveness. Despite Islamic bioethical principles and the sharp framing of Muslim women's visibility in public spaces by Islamic law, they choose to reshape and make areas of their bodies visible to others in response to cosmetic concerns. This research will use ethnographic methods in three plastic surgery clinics in Istanbul, strategically selected with an intersectional approach, and conduct 12 in-depth interviews with pious women who have experienced these procedures. Preliminary findings suggest that pious Muslim women in Turkey must navigate societal expectations and religious principles when considering aesthetic alterations, contributing to the complexity of their situation. This study aims to delve not only into societal expectations’ roots and effects from a feminist perspective but also ask how Islam plays a role in these conflicts. Additionally, it intends to address how Muslim women's perceptions of the body occur in the context of plastic surgery and how pious women negotiate these ideas considering shifts between religious and non-religious values in modern life.