Demi Moore’s gory satire The Substance made me think about self-image, bodily autonomy – and our worrying obsession with cosmetic surgery

I was thinking about breasts as I watched The Substance. Coralie Fargeat’s body-horror fable features Demi Moore as a newly 50, supposedly fading fitness star who makes a pharmaceutical Faustian pact allowing her to create a nubile 20-year-old (played by Margaret Qualley) to replace her half the time. Breasts aren’t Fargeat’s main focus – it’s an ass more than a tit movie – but there are plenty on show. One (minor spoiler alert?) plops bloodily to the floor at a climactic moment and if that – miles from the most harrowing bit – sounds too revolting, it’s not the film for you.

I was thinking about breasts, because I had just read about the 64% increase in reductions in the US since 2019 (not including post-surgical reconstructions or gender-affirming top surgery). Many are on women under 30, and under-19s “represent a small but fast-growing part of the market”, the New York Times reported. Women, apparently, want “yoga boobs” or the girlish “coquette” look – a braless life.

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