Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Rejecting Reconstruction After Breast Cancer: Managing Stigmatized Selves, Marianne A. Joyce

Masters Theses

After a mastectomy due to breast cancer, a woman faces a choice about whether to undergo cosmetic reconstruction of her breast(s). In choosing reconstruction, women restore not only their bodies but their socially acceptable selves. In spite of this, most choose not to have reconstructive surgery. Though they are in the majority, not much is known about these women, and about what they do to navigate through life with a body that does not meet expectations of femininity. In this project, I use the case of women who choose not to have reconstruction and not to simulate their missing breast(s) …