As we have seen, prevailing expectations about beauty and body shape may prevent people who are regarded as ugly or obese from advancing as rapidly as their abilities permit. Both overweight and anorexic people are assumed to be weak in character, slaves to their appetites or to media images. Because they do not conform to the beauty myth, they may be viewed as “disfigured” or “strange” in appearance, bearers of what Goffman calls a “spoiled identity” However, what constitutes disfigurement is a matter of interpretation. Of the one million cosmetic procedures done every year in the United States alone, many are performed on women who would be objectively, defined as having a normal appearance. And while feminist sociologists have accurately noted that the beauty myth makes many woman feel uncomfortable with themselves, men too lack confidence in their appearance. The number of males who choose to undergo cosmetic procedures has risen sharphy in recent years; men now account for 9 percent of such surgeries, including liposuction (C.Kalb 1999; P.Saukko 1999)