Workshop 2: Reflections from Kirsty

Kirsty Lee is a PhD student in the Psychology Department at the University of Warwick working on how bullying involvement affects the adolescent body. At the second Beauty Demands workshop, Kirsty presented a paper that explored the complex relationship between childhood bullying and beauty values. Below are some of her reflections following the workshop. The third workshop will take place 14-15 October in Birmingham and will focus on the globalisation of beauty. The deadline for abstracts for PhD students and early career researchers is 16 July at 4pm.  

I was delighted to attend the second “Beauty Demands” workshop, which focused on the relationship between beauty norms and cosmetic surgery. Not only did I have an opportunity to present my own PhD research (exploring the relationship between childhood bullying, interest in cosmetic surgery, and beauty values), but I was exposed to some very interesting presentations and discussions. The attendees were from a variety of disciplines (e.g., Psychology, Philosophy, Law), so I found the workshop to be stimulating and informative. I learnt a lot and feel inspired to explore this area of research further. I was also encouraged by the feedback I received about my work, which was useful and rewarding.

I fully appreciated the warm and welcoming environment and will certainly stay part of the network. I am really interested to see how the project will progress. I would encourage anyone that is interested in topics around beauty to attend one of the workshops and get involved. You won’t be disappointed!

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