Implants for Graduation? Parent and Adolescent Narratives

This research has explored the lives of 20 women who §participated in the gifting of breast§implants in order to examine how they felt their §decisions evolved over time and how their§decision to give or receive implants had affected §their lives. The questions were designed to§evoke awareness and reflection so that the §respondents would reveal private thoughts. Blending§the narratives with sociological paradigms provided §a means to better understand the§phenomenon of the gifting of implants.§§Narrative analysis empowered research participants §and allowed them to determine the§most important themes in the area of breast §augmentation research. The use of personal§narratives allowed for the whole surgical experience §to enlighten the researcher, not any§particular aspect of the conversation. §§Almost all of the women in this research felt their §choices were empowering ones that§they were pleased about having made. Most of the §mothers expressed that they were comfortable§with their decision to gift surgery to their §daughters, despite knowing that their gift of§augmentation would ultimately result in more surgery §in the future.