Desintha Dwi Asriani, a lecturer at the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FISIPOL UGM), has recently published her latest scholarly article titled “A Bodily Capital: The Practice of Body Modification and Gender Performativity Among Asian Young Women and Men” in the Journal of Applied Youth Studies, published by Springer Nature.
This study delves into the practices of body modification — such as tattoos, piercings, and cosmetic surgery — among young people in South Korea and Indonesia, and examines their connection to gender performativity and social mobility. Using a qualitative approach through interviews and observations, the article presents a comparative analysis of how the body is perceived as both symbolic and economic capital within the rapidly growing consumer cultures of Asia.