The Body follows the emotional journeys of ethnic minorities desperate to change their bodies, as well as showing incredible surgery including pioneering limb lengthening procedures.
Michael Jackson’s radical facial transformation was shrouded in secrecy and became a contentious subject for discussion.
Part of the Race: Science’s Last Taboo season, these programmes examine the emerging trend for deracialisation surgery through the stories of six people who want to westernise their bodies and faces. The film also interviews the surgeons willing to make their dreams come true.
Whether it’s a more Caucasian nose, longer legs, wider eyes, or even less body hair, plastic surgery and science are making anything possible. The programme asks whether it is right to want to erase your inherited ethnic features to fit in to a predominantly white society.
December 17, 2010 at 5:11 am | Angelique
Please, warn about the graphic images, I wasn’t expecting that!!!!
December 18, 2010 at 4:40 am | T.
WTF did you expect to see. The documentary is about plastic surgery! Or, did you just want to see pretty before and after pictures. What kind of fantasy did you have about surgery. SURGERY! This was not made for T.V. primetime. Go watch celebrity makeovers. Sheesh!
January 6, 2011 at 2:45 am | Angelique
You completely missed my point. I wasn’t expecting a sensationalist doc, with crude images on how people mess up with their bodies because of their insecurities, low self-stem and racism issues. I was expecting something less graphic, with a sociocultural point of view. That was all.
And no, watching celebrity realities and such would be even a worse spectacle than this, thank you.
February 6, 2011 at 6:45 am | Sarah
That was the best part. I love medical documentaries. If you don’t like it, then don’t push play. To reiterate what the previous poster said, What did you expect?
December 18, 2010 at 5:27 am | George
The whole premise of this, that non-whites want to become white, is ridiculous.
Height, light skin, a well-proportioned body, etc. were considered beautiful all over the world long before European imperialism. And there’s plenty of other typically European features that the rest of the world doesn’t want either: long noses, sunken eyes, thin lips, excess body hair, freckles, etc.
If you ask me, Westerners need to get over themselves.
December 19, 2010 at 10:11 am | sdfgdfg
Actually, it’s your opinion you’re stating in your comment. This is a true occurence. It’s horrible shit, but it is happening. I’m a white American male and I love Asian, Indian, and Greek women the most out of any I’ve encountered(just love the olive skin end the eyes are gorgeous tas well), and a lot of them are willing to use lighter make-up or augment themselves to be not necessarily white, but at the very least, lighter. True dark brown skin is not a sought after thing due to subjugation based on the darkness of your skin, the darker it is the worse the subjugation is. Take the time to google these few things: A cracked article on racism entitled “8 Racist Ads You Won’t Believe Are From the Last Few Years”, featuring an ad directly for SKIN BLEACH to attain whiteness, or any article about Arabic women getting nose jobs and other surgeries to appear unrecognisable as an Arab because it’s en vogue. Hell this article is scary enough, and proof of this doc alone: “5 Creepy Ways Humans Are Plunging Into the Uncanny Valley”,another cracked.com article with sources listed within. I’m not insulting you, and I’m not trying to be an asshole, but there are some extremely unnerving fucked up things going on in global society now and in the near future. Incorrect opinions such as yours only serve to keep yourself and others in the dark on topics such as these. You don’t have to be an expert, but unless you are in a field of study or occupation in which you deal with this on a daily basis or research it constantly, your opinion isn’t very valuable on the subject. That’s a fact. And actually the line you wrote about well-proportioned bodies isn’t at all true and has only been popular in modern times, and it was considered a sign of wealth to be fat and rather lazy, because it showed you had the wealth and power to do so. Even though you saw most women with the bodies of men in old paintings, you’ll notice that the richer they were the more of a double chin they would have most of the time. I’m afraid the excess body hair isn’t a “typical” european trait. http://WWW.LIVESTRONG.COM states:
Heredity plays a crucial role in deciding where you will be hairy, but medical conditions can also cause excessive hair growth.
Hypertrichosis is the one you’d most likely be referring to.
“Hypertrichosis is the term used to describe excess hair growth in any part of the body as compared to that of a normal person of the same race, age or sex, excluding androgen induced growth,” according to Hypertrichosis.com. Hypertrichosis comes in two types: congenial and acquired. Congenial means it’s a genetic disorder while acquired hypertrichosis occurs to people who might have been diagnosed with cancer of some form, or from drugs and chemicals, or metabolic disorders.
And heredity comes into play based on bloodline, considering at one point, we were all african tribesmen, whether anyone likes it or not.
December 19, 2010 at 10:16 am | sdfgdfg
Sorry that was so long and if I got anything wrong feel free to correct it. Just had to state that to some degree this is serious and is happening as we speak.
December 20, 2010 at 10:08 am | George
> I’m a white American male and I love Asian, Indian, and Greek women… and a lot of them are willing to use lighter make-up or augment themselves to be not necessarily white, but at the very least, lighter.
Honestly, you think non-whites use skin lightening products because they want so bad to be white?
Here’s a fun fact: nearly every Asian woman above the poverty line uses skin lightening lotion. And, guess what? 99.9999% of them don’t give a shit about white people. You need to get over yourself.
>Take the time to google these few things: A cracked article on racism entitled “8 Racist Ads You Won’t Believe Are From the Last Few Years”, featuring an ad directly for SKIN BLEACH to attain whiteness, or any article about Arabic women getting nose jobs and other surgeries to appear unrecognisable as an Arab because it’s en vogue. [etc. etc.]
The article sounds like it was written by an over-sensitive anti-racist.
And re the Arabs getting plastic surgery, I’ve met plenty of Arabs and they all have different size noses. Now you’re the one being racist by defining Arabs as people with big noses.
> Incorrect opinions such as yours only serve to keep yourself and others in the dark on topics such as these.
Yeah, thank God we’ve got experts like you to enlighten us. /sarcasm
December 29, 2010 at 8:29 am | Joe
George, I have to disagree with you. There are many more cases of people trying to look more white than you realize. The typical image of beauty as seen in magazines throughout much of the world is white, whether the populations are white themselves or not. In many places the whiter you look, the more respect you will get. This is true whether you agree with the logic behind this or not. Of course this is a problem and I’m not saying white people are inherently more attractive, but the facts are the facts and it’s just how a lot of places are. It is also more difficult for a person of color living in a majority white country, because there that image of white beauty is even more prevalent. No I am not say every person is like this at all but to deny it exists is plain ignorant, just look at the people in the documentary!
December 23, 2010 at 2:01 am | robin
I think this doc does a good job about showing the real aspects of cosmetic surgery. BUT– it doesn’t pay any attention to side effects and after effects.
Another issue I find is that these are all the same issues that white people face. White women think their breasts are too big and too small. White people have all sorts of hair removed from their body. Not all white men have large penises, and not all white men are tall.
This movie is aimed at racism and people wanting to be white, but they aren’t, they just want different features. The same things white people want. White people and the people in this movie all have the same issues.
Congratulations to the people in the film– you have contracted the exact same neurosis as white people!
January 15, 2011 at 6:12 pm | Hanna
This is rubbish for so many reasons.
This has absolutely nothing to do with wanting to be white. White people have surgery as much or even more then other races do. I’m from holland and over here for example people are tall and blonde but they have surgery because they want to have bigger breasts or they want smaller wastes, they have cellulite or a small bottom.
And what to say about white people’s tanning and the very popular bottom implants? Would that mean that white people actually want to become black? This all together would mean all people have identity crisis.
What I think is that people are never happy with what they have. if ur white you want to get tan, if ur black u want to become whiter. Girls with curls want straight hair and vice versa.
Like someone before said. White people should definitely get over themselves. The most beautiful people I’ve seen were anything but typically white folks neither is miss universe or miss world.
February 22, 2011 at 3:07 pm | Haven
Its crazy because there’s a trend of white ppl getting surgery to lookmore exotic…to have fuller lips and smaller noses…to have more rounded figures with bigger asses and lager breasts.
February 27, 2011 at 7:38 am | uratitmouse
i understand in this documentary it was really focused on looking white…but i think all over in society people are so cruel towards looks that self esteem issues will only grow and with that plastic surgery…i feel for anyone who goes through surgery…i hope afterwards they can truely be happy and love themselves
March 31, 2011 at 5:49 pm | Mrs. Glam
The white body is the “ideal”? When was this documentary made? I don’t know about Europe, but in America white men and women are flocking to tanning salons, knowingly risking skin cancer in order to be darker. White women are getting lip injections to get fuller lips, butt injection to get a more curvy figure.
As a black women, I can definitely confirm that ethnic women do hold insecurities…but so do white people. I know of more white women who got nose jobs to fix long noses than black women who go nose jobs to fix wide ones. On the other hand, nearly every black women I know gets their hair straightened regularly. All races have their insecurities.
This was definitely an informative documentary in many ways, but the fact they tried to make it seem as though minorities are actually trying to become white is laughable.
April 12, 2011 at 4:19 am | Ms.Me
This is definitely an inaccurate and biased documentary. There are plenty of white women and men that get plastic surgery to make themselves look a certain way: more tanned, women to be more curvy, fuller lips, etc. We all have insecurities. And it’s mainly due to media that our perceptions of beauty have become distorted.
November 12, 2011 at 4:20 pm | Marcusknght
Some people keep mentioning how white people are flocking to tanning salons to become darker, but that’s not some secret yearning to embody blackness it’s more on the premise of the whole “Greek God and Goddess” image. What I will say is that people in general who get plastic surgery are insecure, but unless you, which I would assume by your comments you are white and which you can assume I am not by my comments, have experienced what minorities experience in terms of being prejudged and that prejudgment leading to discrimination, you cannot fully understand the significance in this act of unnecessary mutilation.The point of this documentary is that minorities who get plastic surgery do so from insecurities derived from the media that extend beyond skin deep and reside on what it is to actually experience being different from those who have a dominate position in society. The plastic surgery of minorities and whites cannot be equated on the same level because there is a stigma attached to “minority features” pervasive in the global society while for the white counterpart there are insecurities that do draw from society but the influences to look a certain way are present but is not as strong a force as strong as the distaste for features that dissent from standard white features.
April 16, 2011 at 6:28 am | AnnaKaren
Evidently, the people who commented that don’t see why this documentary is made are not able to realize the pervasiveness of white beauty globally. As a result of colonization, many developing nations with people of color look towards those within their society with lighter skin as the most beautiful. You have Bolivia and Peru with a major dark-skinned indigenous population with billboards and adverts of light-skinned models. The celebrities in Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines are all light-skinned and are usually of mixed descent (a mix of Caucasian).
Yes, everyone has insecurities but what’s alarming is that Caucasians, who are now a small percentage of the global populace, dominate the mass media where their racial features are normalized. This perpetual normalization of White features causes it to be deemed the ideal, therefore it is sought after. Also, it is more than just lighter skin color that is sought out for. It is popular for East Asians to have eyelid surgery to appear more Western or for Middle Eastern women to have nose jobs to have a more Western nose. It’s disturbing that such a small populace of the world is having such influence in terms of beauty standards on just about every other part of the world and that’s what this documentary is talking about.
I’m just trying to prove that the documentary’s thesis is valid. The overall theme of the general pervasiveness beauty standards can be applied to everyone including Caucasians that fake tan, get butt implants, and fuller lips.
April 16, 2011 at 8:49 am | Huj
Whilst it is true that, in general, people in Thailand consider paler skin to be more attractive this is nothing to do with colonisation or any perception that a more “caucasian” look is preferrable.
Firstly, Thailand has never been colonised.
The reason the population consider paler skin to be preferrable is the perception that it indicates a non-rural worker … those who work outside have a darker skin colour because of the effect of long exposure to the sun and conversely pale skin equates to the wealthy, urban residents. I am not claiming this view is laudable, but it is a very different reason than what you describe,
Your distorted claims are, in fact, racist.
April 18, 2011 at 12:22 am | AnnaKaren
Known realities aside of day laborers and blue-collar work, most Asian societies still prefer lighter-skinned individuals and/or the Caucasian look.
Just because Thailand has never been colonized does not mean it has not been influenced by the tendencies of the entire South East Asian region. Please point out to me the percentage of Thai celebrities that are fully Thai that are not a mix of some Caucasian.
Here’s an article from Time Magazine called the ‘Eurasian Invasion’ and how companies and the media are capitalizing on Eurasian models, actors/actresses and how they’ve been so successful in East and South East Asia:
Please clarify which claims that I’ve made that you consider racist.
April 18, 2011 at 12:22 am | AnnaKaren
Known realities aside of day laborers and blue-collar work, most Asian societies still prefer lighter-skinned individuals and/or the Caucasian look.
Just because Thailand has never been colonized does not mean it has not been influenced by the tendencies of the entire South East Asian region. Please point out to me the percentage of Thai celebrities that are fully Thai that are not a mix of some Caucasian.
Here’s an article from Time Magazine called the ‘Eurasian Invasion’ and how companies and the media are capitalizing on Eurasian models, actors/actresses and how they’ve been so successful in East and South East Asia:
Please clarify which claims that I’ve made that you consider racist.
November 12, 2011 at 10:48 am | Patrick
Thailand was a British colony for years – the population speaks english as well as Thai.
January 11, 2012 at 2:17 pm | Kotch
I live in Thailand and I am British. Thailand has never been successfully colonised and definitely not by the British. The population generally speaks very poor English taught at secondary education level – it is certainly not a ‘second language’ similar to its usage in Singapore for example.
April 29, 2011 at 12:17 am | Ray
Whites don’t dominate the mass media, Jews do.
White features are “normalized” because a wide range of people regard white physiognomy as desirable. White models in adverts mean better sales.
That being said, white men have been portrayed as mindless buffoons, and “minorities” as oh-so-nobles, in more commercials than I can come even close to counting.
May 29, 2011 at 3:47 am | TANISHA EVERETT
i am so tired of people saying that Jews dominate media. they do not. they may dominate in film but not everything else. and if your claim is true it still does not negate the fact that white beauty is pervasive seeing that Jews do not look like the typical European white person. What I do find funny about this film or this white beauty myths is how everyone is jockeying to look white while white people are jockeying to look more black or african. butt lifts, butt implants, lip implants, breast implants, tans, perms etc. these features are more prevalent in blacks and east indians. as far as the western eye, that beauty standard is based on east indian and persian women’s eye shape. The world is so deceived.. really it is
November 12, 2011 at 3:56 pm | Marcusknght
what? unless you have been under a rock either you have delusions or you are just lying now
June 21, 2011 at 2:43 am | guest
white people are in no way a minority.
June 21, 2011 at 2:43 am | guest
white people are in no way a minority.
June 21, 2011 at 2:43 am | guest
white people are in no way a minority.
April 30, 2011 at 2:28 am | Backlinks
This video, is insane.
May 29, 2011 at 5:22 am | Guest
Warning – the above comment is a fake, and was used just to insert a
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May 28, 2011 at 9:01 pm | Emily Egan
Interesting film. I find it interesting when they discuss body hair, however, the narrator doesn’t mention that a lot of white people are very hairy, e.g. Mediterranean peoples. It seems they are using British people as a standard for “white” which is not representative. I feel very bad for the short guy, though. I think it must be very hard to be short and be a man in our Western society.
July 11, 2011 at 3:50 am | MIMICASON
THIS STUIP THAT BLACK PEOPLE WANT WO LOOK WHITE,OR WHITE PEOPLE GETTING SURGERY TO LOOK LIKE PEOPLE FROM A DIFFERNT RACE. IF GOD WANTED YOU TO BE THAT RACE YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN THAT RACE. I WILL NEVER TRY TO BE SOMETHING I’M NOT. MICHEAL JACKSON LOOKED LIKE A FUCKIN IDIOT AND HE WILL BE ALWAYS REMBERED AS THAT.
July 11, 2011 at 3:50 am | MIMICASON
THIS STUIP THAT BLACK PEOPLE WANT WO LOOK WHITE,OR WHITE PEOPLE GETTING SURGERY TO LOOK LIKE PEOPLE FROM A DIFFERNT RACE. IF GOD WANTED YOU TO BE THAT RACE YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN THAT RACE. I WILL NEVER TRY TO BE SOMETHING I’M NOT. MICHEAL JACKSON LOOKED LIKE A FUCKIN IDIOT AND HE WILL BE ALWAYS REMBERED AS THAT.
August 1, 2011 at 5:39 am | Jbd
This show kept talking about desirable white features and how black women’s breasts are 2 inches bigger and the hips are …inches wider, but when they talked about penises white men and black men are the same? They should’ve said that men desire to have black men’s penises!
November 2, 2011 at 5:18 pm | sarah
yeah but who’d wanna be black LOL?
August 7, 2011 at 9:50 pm | Ashley Sainz
How about claiming that all of this is because of white people (which is both racist and bigoted), why don’t we focus on the impact of cosmetic surgery on every group? White people all want to be skinnier, have bigger boobs, have prettier labias, reconstruct hymens, replace foreskins, have smaller noses, or a bigger butt. Every group wants to be something else. It’s unfair to place all of this blame on “colonialism” when every group suffers these problems, including white people.
The media is often blamed for “white washing” other cultures. But, it’s just as harsh to white people as it is to other ethnic groups. You must be tall, skinny, have long hair, have perfect tits, and just generally perfect all around. Only a small percentage of people can maintain that shape. It’s an impossible standard for EVERYONE, not just non-caucasion people. This documentary almost makes it sound like it’s BAD to be white.
Short people will want to be taller. Small breasted women will want larger ones. Large breasted woman will want smaller ones. Everyone wants to be what they aren’t. And all cosmetic surgery is harmful, no matter what ethnic group you’re in. Setting white people up as a strawman is pretty racist.
Like the Chinese woman in the documentary, I’m small breasted. Size A. My chest is only an inch wider than the woman in the film. For a long time, I struggled to come to terms with it. But I did it. And I got over it without surgery, though I’ve considered it. I think this woman has an unhealthy fixation on an imagined issue. Perhaps she could have talked to someone who would encourage her to love her body instead of ending up on the chopping block.
What I think needs to be done is revamping the images the media shows of men and women. No one should be held up an imagined image of “perfection” and made to feel that they have flaws.
August 7, 2011 at 9:55 pm | Ashley Sainz
It also seems like the documentary is entirely racist. Like, you can’t be black if you don’t have a large chest and butt. Or you can’t be Chinese without having a small chest and narrow hips. What about naturally small chested black women? If they got implants, would they be celebrating their cultural heritage? You can’t be a tall Malaysian, if you’re a tall Malaysian, you’re now labeled white. Or a Chinese woman with large breasts, etc. Every ethnic group has exceptions and you can’t just generalize an entire group like that.
Just accept your body for what it is and ignore the image the media portrays.
August 7, 2011 at 9:55 pm | Ashley Sainz
It also seems like the documentary is entirely racist. Like, you can’t be black if you don’t have a large chest and butt. Or you can’t be Chinese without having a small chest and narrow hips. What about naturally small chested black women? If they got implants, would they be celebrating their cultural heritage? You can’t be a tall Malaysian, if you’re a tall Malaysian, you’re now labeled white. Or a Chinese woman with large breasts, etc. Every ethnic group has exceptions and you can’t just generalize an entire group like that.
Just accept your body for what it is and ignore the image the media portrays.
November 2, 2011 at 5:16 pm | sarah
white power!
December 4, 2011 at 10:32 pm | Learnthetruth
the crazy thing is that people are still talking about how MJ bleached his skin, while he had VITILIGOOOOOOOOOOO for God’s sake look at all his pictures especially those from performances and you will see the dark blotches, no one absolutely no one can be that white from bleaching, i work in the medical profession and i am a pharmacist and chemistry is my specialty so i know what am talking about, i can’t believe am from a country that is considered a 3rd world country and i can see the disease so clear and you guys are still talking about his bleaching which is not true, a story created by the media, and sony the company that he so wanted to get rid from, in order to make the people hate him, like so many many rumors that reached this poor guy, and you people still believe it, seriously that’s absurd, stop listening to the media and look at the pictures for God sake and learn the truth!!!! am from Egypt btw
December 6, 2011 at 5:03 pm | Sharaya
I find it strange that no Caucasians were interviewed in this doc, you’d think they’d as a wider spectrum for some opinions.
December 27, 2011 at 5:15 pm | Me
just proves a point doesnt it, white is always best and most beautiful. these niggers will never be as beautiful as white. the asians will never be as beautiful as white. even chinese are superior to niggers who want to be white
February 15, 2012 at 11:07 am | Scott Webster
This is a total joke, people who look to celebrities as a model to base normal human bodies on are neglecting the rest of the world. the whole documentary forgets many things;
are black women born more ’rounded’ ? no they are not. diet and excursive is what will make you toned = the black body is very statuesque and easily modified by excursive – look at black athletes. the african or west indians diet is one that can make you gain weight easily
come to england – you will see thousands of ugly fat white people with ’rounded figures’
being short in england does make people think you are younger but this does not mean that I (a short person at 5”7) should get a leg lengthening surgery
these people are sick in the mind and need help from a doctor
February 19, 2012 at 3:56 am | Heyyouthereyou
I am opposite of the black woman with the large breast. I am black american (not 100 percent) I had small breast, I am short, a chinese doctor I once had said I had a chinese body shape. Narrow hips wide african nose with a european point and nostrals. Freckles, hair straight at the roots, medium to light skin, (Light to most blacks). big lips that did not fit my asian face structure. I was teased very badly by black children for my big lips and my “yellow skin”. I was picked on for having “good hair”. Black People were always pointing out the non black features but what they did not realize is that I was still called a nigger just like they were. I got teased at the native american pow wows for being too black. I was never native american enough black enough or white enough. I wanted to have my lips thinned, get a breast implant, thin my nose have my freckles removed or just hide. I did get the breast done but nothing else. I am multi-racial and that is just fine.
March 7, 2012 at 3:03 am | Tat
Deracialisation? White people have way more nose, boob and other “-jobs”. If a black person wants to have a smaller nose does that mean that he/she wants to be white? I don’t think so… If a white woman want’s to have bigger boobs and fuller lips does that mean that she want’s to be more black? White women use spray tanns to make their skin darker, does that mean they want to be more black? That poor girl just wanted a smaller nose! If she was white no one would’ve said anything, so why people get so annoyed if a black person want’s the same thing? Black people who think like that radio guy need to get over themselves. Not everything revolves about race, some women just want a smaller nose or bigger boobs. As simple as that.
March 26, 2012 at 2:40 am | I'm fucking ugly
Hello, I live in the U.S. and I wish I was a white girl. I also wanted to be pretty. Most white women are so pretty and everything! I wish to have blue eyes and blonde hair. I want to look like barbie and will do ANYTHING to change my ugly ass face. I want to get plastic surgery on my whole face and body. I am not asian nor black and hell I know I’m not white. I’m gonna change my idenity, my physical features (from head to toe), and change my race from *** to white.
April 26, 2012 at 10:32 pm | Jayne Alcantar
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