Gender-neutral plastic surgeries are growing more popular, based on one well-known plastic surgeon based in Los Angeles, California. Recently, Dr Alexander Rivkin, who pioneered the ‘Five-Minute Non-Surgical Nose Job’, has been noticing patients veering away from extreme femininity and masculinity and moving in favour of a more androgynous look. For girls, as an alternative of slopes and softening, he’s seeing more requests for sharp angles with straight jawlines and noses while men are requesting more lip and cheekbone enhancement. Using a mix of Botox and precisely placed filler, Dr Rivkin says clients are in search of a more modern, custom-tailored look that appears to be gender fluid in appearance. 

“It’s not that individuals are coming into my office and saying, ‘I would like to look more gender-neutral’,” says Dr Rivkin. “I do see it as a gradual shift in what men and women are requesting and the sorts of (plastic surgeries) that they need.” He believes it is a change from recent times during which extreme, hyper-feminine features were widely popular. “People still want to enhance their lips, but be conservative about it. (They’re more) natural, not the super large lips (we’re used to seeing).”

“Women need a sharp jawline and that’s a logo of strength and confidence. In order that’s change into really a much larger thing in my practice than ever before.” By way of men, Dr Rivkin sees more often men coming in for fuller lips and Botox, that are typically considered more feminine sorts of procedures and fewer hyper-masculine. The expert believes that influencers and celebrities like Zendaya, who’s a lady with a pointy, defined chin, playing a personality that’s vulnerable but confident while male characters like Ansel Elgort have fuller lips but are still considered a sex symbol. 

Culturally speaking, this shift could possibly be reflective of the changes we’re seeing within the ways gender-fluid identities have gotten more widely accepted. Plus, with the present rise of a more sensitive expression of manhood (as a response against outdated conservative views during which toxic masculinity has been harmful pervasive), women are also reclaiming their power within the aftermath of the #MeToo movement and amid our current intersectional feminist movement. It’s no wonder beauty ideals – and the sorts of plastic surgeries persons are requesting – are changing.

“I made a decision to get my lips filled because I desired to correct asymmetry and achieve a fuller, more pouty look with quite a little bit of projection,” considered one of Dr Rivkin’s patients tells us. “I asked my injector to make the difference noticeable. I wanted the brand new appearance to be something that individuals’s eyes were drawn to.” The patient, who identifies as a gay man, says they got their lips done because they desired to look more feminine and “beautiful” and that androgyny played a component on this. While, they imagine more feminine-leaning features on men are “visually stunning” despite being “less expected,” “androgyny is something that holds attention, even when it’s simply because people don’t know what to make of it (yet),” they said.

One other patient of Dr Rivkin received jaw and chin filler to balance out their features. “An outlined jawline and chin gender-neutral. It doesn’t make you appear manly or unnatural so long as it’s done moderately,” they expressed. A 3rd, explained, “I don’t think there must be clear guidelines for beauty.”

“I personally like a more masculine look in the case of my jawline. A powerful defined jawline on a lady could be very beautiful in my view. Alternatively, I get my lips injected for a pouty more feminine look,” they said. In accordance with the patient, “a mixture between soft feminine features and stronger more masculine features,” is attractive and exotic while it allows them to play with their feminine and masculine sides in each beauty and fashion. When it got here to getting their procedure, they referenced Zendaya’s jawline and Zoë Kravitz’s. “Each are so beautiful and female yet have masculine features like a robust jawline.”

“One patient believes more feminine-leaning features on men are ‘visually stunning’ despite being ‘less expected’ and ‘androgyny is something that holds attention, even when it’s simply because people don’t know what to make of it (yet)”

While Dr Rivkin believes this direction is certainly noticeable, Clare Varga, head of beauty at WGSN Beauty, a world trend forecasting company, makes a degree to say that, “the shift to inclusivity and gender neutrality shouldn’t be a trend, it’s a movement and as such is here to remain.” She adds: “The rise of androgynous/gender-neutral plastic surgeries is de facto just an extension and next evolution of the shifts we’ve been tracking at WGSN in beauty overall.”  

More broadly speaking, this shift could possibly be tied to the rising, more fluid and fewer fixed approach to gender, says Varga, in addition to the normalisation of filler culture and the increasing affordability of ‘tweakments’ including botox and fillers. On top of this, with Instagram filters offering us immediate facial revisions like smoother lines, and the blurring of URL and IRL culture, the trend forecaster believes we’re amid a recent era of beauty ideals.

“With Instagram filters offering us immediate facial revisions like smoother lines, and the blurring of URL and IRL culture, we’re amid a recent era of beauty ideals”

Varga says, this movement might be epitomised by trans beauty blogger and make-up artist Nikita Dragun. “Inspired by their very own experiences and surgeries, Dragun’s gender-neutral brand’s identity is hyper-digital, hyper-plastic, and totally representative of the emerging aesthetic in the sweetness community.” Other influencers Varga believes are helping to push this movement forward include Sasha Velour in addition to micro-influencers like Lily Bloom, Celine Bernaerts, and Sophia Hadjipanteli. In accordance with Varga, these surgeries are also a part of a recent wave of gender-neutral beauty brands, that are normalising beauty for all. This includes brands like Fluide, Jecca, and Cult of Treehouse, that are abandoning, “archaic gender stereotypes and presenting genderless narratives” through their branding and marketing campaigns.

While, “up to now beauty was sold to us as a strategy to attract a partner or slot in, now it’s more about difficult beauty norms and being joyful in your individual skin,” argues Varga, androgynous leaning “tweakments” thus allow people to recreate and present themselves nonetheless they like, whether or not they’re attempting a gender-neutral look on purpose or not. Moving forward, Dr Rivkin believes this movement will only proceed to expand from here, especially considering the proven fact that plastic surgeries have change into less taboo. Subsequently, in the long run people will proceed to search out procedures that allow their physical appearance to authentically match their identities.