Anthropologist Explores the Line Between Plastic Surgery and Reality T.V

WORCESTER, Mass. – Hilda Lloréns, visiting professor of anthropology and sociology at Middlebury College, will give a presentation titled “The Latinization of Body Parts: Plastic Surgery and Reality TV” on Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. in Hogan 402(03) at the College of the Holy Cross.  The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by Latin American and Latino Studies.

In her talk, Lloréns will examine the intersections between plastic surgery practices and ideas of femininity among Latinas and plastic surgeons in Los Angeles, Calif.

“Los Angeles is the mecca of reality television and the plastic surgery industry,” explains Lloréns. “Plastic surgery reality shows such as the popular Dr. 90210 portray Dr. Rey, a Brazilian surgeon, in his daily routine. The majority of the shows' participants are women, some of who are Latinas. The body of a new woman, resulting from plastic surgery procedures is emerging and populating the real world, reality television, and the pages of popular magazines.”

Her work explores the links between the marketing of feminine beauty through aesthetic surgeries in reality television and popular magazines and ideas of feminine beauty among U.S. Latinas.

Lloréns received her Ph.D. and M.A. in cultural anthropology from the University of Connecticut and her B.A. in sociology and anthropology from Eastern Connecticut State University. A professor at Middlebury College, she previously taught at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif.

Her essay “Dislocated Geographies: A Story of Border Crossings” was recently published in Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism. (Indiana University Press 2006) Her forthcoming publications include: “Brothels, Hell, and Puerto Rican Bodies: Sex, Race, Gender, Nation and Other Cultural Politics in 21st Century Artworks” in El Centro Journal of Puerto Rican Studies and she is currently working on a book about the cultural politics of artistic and spatial representations in Puerto Rico.