Our Obsession With Modifying Our Bodies

The Health Issue.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story May 13, 2022 Photograph by Naila Ruechel for The New York Times. A body is the first thing we are given, at once our most valuable and most vulnerable possession. It's public and private at the same time, the thing the world sees (and comments on, even when we wish they wouldn't). Being in a body is a complicated endeavor: so much comfort and agony, trauma and shame, peril and pleasure all rolled up in one perpetually aging instrument that, for most of our history as a species, we couldn't do much to change. Identity might be fluid, but the body was a relatively fixed thing. No longer. We have more opportunities to modify the body than ever, and as a result, we have become obsessed with this sort of tinkering, and with the questions of identity that it raises. Our annual health issue this year is about an era when body modification is more popular and possible than ever. Whether the aim is to be thinner or curvier, taller or bulkier, to come closer to what society, at the moment, has deemed ideal beauty or to finally manifest our innermost selves, the one thing that's constant is change. Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Naila Ruechel for The New York Times The Health Issue Butt Lifts Are Booming. Healing Is No Joke. Beauty, pain, race and money play out in Miami's post-surgical recovery houses. By Sandra E. Garcia Subscribe Today We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times with this special offer. MORE FROM THE MAGAZINE Elle Pérez for The New York Times The Health Issue How Ben Got His Penis Phalloplasty — the surgery to make a penis — has grown more popular among trans men. But with a steep rate of complications, it remains a controversial procedure. By Jamie Lauren Keiles Elinor Carucci for The New York Times The Health Issue The Feminist Case for Breast Reduction My body had been objectified for as long as I could remember. So I decided to change it. By Melissa Febos The Health Issue I've Always Struggled With My Weight. Losing It Didn't Mean Winning. A diet app helped me shed my extra Covid pounds — and reminded me that I'm still the same old me. By Sam Anderson Illustration by Dadu Shin The Health Issue The Man Who Controls Computers With His Mind 16 years ago, Dennis DeGray was paralyzed in an accident. Now, implants in his brain allow him some semblance of control. By Ferris Jabr Photo illustration by Ina Jang Her Rash Wouldn't Go Away, and the Itch Was Ruining Her Life Nights were a particular torment, and nothing but steroids seemed to help. What could be causing this? By Lisa Sanders, M.D. Stay in touch: Follow us on Twitter (@NYTmag) or check us out on Instagram. Appreciated this email? Forward it to a friend and help us grow. Loved a story? Hated it? Write us a letter at magazine@nytimes.com. Did a friend forward this to you? Sign up here to get the magazine newsletter. Listen to narrated versions of our articles every week. Download Audm for iPhone or Android. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for The New York Times Magazine from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018