Acknowledgments  ix
Introduction  1
1. On Origins  21
Interlude. The Procedures  39
2. Femininity in the Clinic  43
Interlude. Celebrate!  67
3. Cutting as Caring  71
4. Recognition and Refusal  89
Interlude. My Adam's Apple  109
5. The Operating Room  113
6. And After  135
Conclusion  151
Notes  157
References  169
Index  185

"This is a well-written and thought-provoking contribution not only to transgender studies but also to our debate about how we necessarily and constantly refashion ourselves." — Sander L. Gilman, Critical Inquiry

“An exceptionally well-written book, based on highly engaged fieldwork . . . and filled with elegant and innovative theoretical insights about the material (in)stability and social urgency of sex/gender.” — Christine Labuski, American Anthropologist

“A wonderfully terse and insightful first book. Eric Plemons’s work counts as the best of trans studies.” — Cressida J. Heyes, American Journal of Bioethics

“In The Look of a Woman, Eric Plemons gives us a very thoughtful, well-researched, and important statement about the role of facial feminization surgery in trans-medicine.” — Juliana Hansen, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

“The Look of a Woman is a new and important examination of the world of trans medicine, particularly the question of gendered identity, facial physiognomy, and most importantly the face-to-face determination of sex. An excellent and enriching engagement.” — Bernadette Wegenstein, Medical Anthropology Quarterly

"This is a well-written and thought-provoking contribution not only to transgender studies but also to our debate about how we necessarily and constantly refashion ourselves." —Sander L. Gilman, Critical Inquiry

“An exceptionally well-written book, based on highly engaged fieldwork . . . and filled with elegant and innovative theoretical insights about the material (in)stability and social urgency of sex/gender.” —Christine Labuski, American Anthropologist

“A wonderfully terse and insightful first book. Eric Plemons’s work counts as the best of trans studies.” —Cressida J. Heyes, American Journal of Bioethics

“In The Look of a Woman, Eric Plemons gives us a very thoughtful, well-researched, and important statement about the role of facial feminization surgery in trans-medicine.” —Juliana Hansen, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

“The Look of a Woman is a new and important examination of the world of trans medicine, particularly the question of gendered identity, facial physiognomy, and most importantly the face-to-face determination of sex. An excellent and enriching engagement.” —Bernadette Wegenstein, Medical Anthropology Quarterly

"In the early 1990s, Judith Butler theorized a new performative model of sex/gender; now Eric Plemons provides us with an exemplary ethnographic analysis of how that discursive model materialized as surgical practice, transforming medical treatment for transfeminine people along the way. It is a readable, well-argued, and deeply informed account of how what counts as 'sex' has shifted from genitals to faces over the last few decades. It is of interest not only to members of trans* communities, but to anyone working in the history or anthropology of medicine, and to scholars of gender, sexuality, and embodiment more generally." — Susan Stryker, coeditor of, The Transgender Studies Reader

"What does a woman look like? This fascinating ethnography of facial feminization surgery made me see that question in a new light. There is much here that troubles social constructionist accounts of gender. Sex inheres in skulls and jaws. By reshaping them in line with sex-specific population norms, surgeons help their patients to reach the ultimate frontier in 'passing' as women. But equally Eric Plemons shows that transient beauty ideals and different surgical practices guide sex transformation. A rigorous analysis that is also a sensitive portrayal of the embodied experiences of trans- people." — Alexander Edmonds, author of, Pretty Modern: Beauty, Sex, and Plastic Surgery in Brazil

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