Body Contouring: The Success of the Androgynous Model

Sir:

The pharaonic belief in androgynous nature of gods was the motivation for practicing female circumcision in ancient Egypt.¹ This historical observation leads us, as plastic surgeons, to consider how much the aesthetical ideals are influenced by philosophical and ethical views. We are called to translate into adequate treatments for our patients the concept of beauty, which evolves along the history and is strictly related to the spirit of every period.

Interestingly, several studies during the last decades reported a reemerging trend toward the androgynous model. An androgyny index, based on waist, bust, and pelvic width, was introduced in 2002 to investigate female body attractiveness.² Analyzing temporal changes, a trend toward the success of a more androgynous appearance was observed in photograph models’ body shapes over the period of 50 years until 2001. The androgyny index was further validated by studies published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.³ Moreover, this evolution of aesthetical ideals was reflected by the increased preoccupation for specific parts of the body, leading to an increase in requests for related body contouring operations.⁴

After the Egyptians, the idea of the androgynous nature of the primordial human being was philosophically developed by Plato in Symposium 189a–193e through the speech of Aristophanes. By using a mythical narration, Plato said that in the beginning, the androgynous human being was participating in both male and female natures. Afterwards, Zeus, the king of gods in Greek Olympus, divided the androgyne in man and woman to reduce the extraordinary power related to the androgynous nature. However, as a consequence, one of the strongest desires was generated in the human being: the research of the lost unity through Love. These philosophical beliefs oriented the aesthetical ideals of the Hellenistic period and were expressed in art by many sculptures representing Aphroditus.

During the Italian Renaissance period, these ideas were rediscovered by the Neo-Platonic Academy of Marsilio Ficino, which adopted a monistic interpretation of the Nature and proposed that an ultimate One lies behind all existence.⁵ Conversely, dualism between thought and reality had to be overcome.⁵ Classical symbolic expressions of dualism, like the opposites above/below, in/out, and in biology male/female, man/woman, were judged as mere appearance. The androgynous model represented the ideal reconciliation of the human being with the original Unity mentioned above. Steeped in this Neo-Platonic view, Renaissance art was guided by philosophy.⁵ Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing Androgynous is probably the most explicit representation of the androgynous model in this period. Androgynous characters can also be identified in the Leonardo’s most famous painting, Mona Lisa, and in St. John the Baptist.

After Napoleon Bonaparte’s campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801), the Egyptian philosophy and aesthetical principles were widely rediscovered and accepted with increasing interest in the Western countries. In 20th century, Jung postulated that both masculine and feminine components of the psyche are present in each individual.⁶ Accordingly, androgyny was considered as expression of the unified self.

Today, the androgynous tendency can be easily recognized as a part of the pop culture, reflecting the success of the philosophical background described above. To be aware of this view of human nature may help us to better understand the aesthetical ideals of our period and, consequently, the requirements of our patients.

DISCLOSURE

The authors have no financial interest to declare in relation to the content of this article. The Article P rocessing Charge was paid for by the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, Aesthetic and Hand Surgery, Basel University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland.