Entanglement of Flesh and Field: Autoethnographic Explorations of Embodiment and Reflexivity in Researching Medical Cosmetic Procedures

This article offers a collaborative autoethnographic exploration of the embodied entanglements researchers experience when studying medical cosmetic procedures. We focus on affective entanglements of self and environment – here characterised as flesh and field – especially during fieldwork. Our methodological intervention comprises analyses of conversations between researchers, reflections on fieldwork and autoethnography. We demonstrate how researchers – far from being ‘neutral’ observers in the field – are implicated in a pervasive cosmetic gaze. Using reflexive thematic analysis of written autobiographical stories and follow-up conversations, we explore three interconnected themes: cycles of aesthetic reflection and (dis)engagement, the discursive moral dynamics of aesthetic judgement, and the collapse of distance between researcher and subject. These themes emphasise the recursive and emotional aspects of cosmetic fieldwork, where the line between professional critique and personal embodiment is continually negotiated. We argue that corporeal experiences in the field inevitably complicate the ideological dimensions of these procedures, raising methodological and epistemological questions about the limits of ‘critical distance’ in knowledge creation. As an alternative to this critical distance, we highlight the value of situated, embodied perspectives in producing scholarship around cosmetic cultures, gender, ageing and the body, while simultaneously considering how to ‘care’ for the body in spaces saturated with aesthetic judgement. Through this, we contribute to broader conversations about reflexivity, embodiment and knowledge production in contemporary sociocultural research on medical cosmetic procedures.