Abigail Tazzyman
alt510@york.ac.uk
I graduated from Oxford University in 2009 with a BA in Modern History and after taking a year out of academia began an MA at the Centre for Women’s Studies which I completed in 2011. Under the supervision of Gabriele Griffin I am now undertaking a PhD at the centre.
Beginning from the premise that women in current UK society are concerned about their appearance, I shall investigate how women manage their image of bodily self. My research focuses on female cultures of body management, upon the perceptions, motives and backdrops of the women who undertake this action on themselves. In consideration of the popularity and pervasiveness of body modification among young UK women my aim is to gain knowledge of why particular methods of modification are chosen, where the motivation for body alteration comes from and how this modification is negotiated with their perception of bodily self. Part of my research is to discover how this modification is perceived by the women who undertake it and how they place their actions within the wider spectrum of possible body modification. In regards to body modification, I am being inclusive of all methods, ranging from shaving, make-up and dieting, to surgery. This research aims to provide an in depth understanding of women’s relationship to their body, their outward appearance, and the implications of this relationship upon their social and cultural interactions, and perceptions of self.