LONDON — In the 1960s, feminists coined the slogan, "Our bodies, our selves." But that liberating sentiment has recently undergone an ironic twist. As an anonymous American woman, justifying her decision to undergo cosmetic surgery, put it, "All we have in life is ourselves, and what we can put out there every day for the world to see. Me is all I got."
The French commentator Herve Juvin extolled this new attitude toward the body in his 2005 surprise best-seller, "The Coming of the Body" (English translation).
Plastic surgery, the implantation of biochips, piercings — all emblazon the belief that our bodies are our unique property. At the same time, Juvin asserts, because everyone has a body, property has suddenly become democratized.