Korean Epoch of Homogenous Beauty by Sa Yoon Oh
Throughout our life as human beings, we are bound to encounter pressuring environments. In school, some may feel the need to demonstrate outstanding academic performance to please their parents; in social settings, the pressure to succeed and prosper in life with a stable career is a common struggle among many. Yet in South Korea, there exists another breed of societal duress that haunts women and girls of all ages: The pressure to become beautiful. While it is true that women in other countries are also commonly influenced to polish their appearances, the social pressure Korean women face is a whole another concept that demands attention. Those who refuse to conform to K-beauty are confronted with severe societal oppression that enforces submission to a defined idealistic appearance, thus leaving no room for diversification.
As I walk along the underground metro station of Seoul, endless arrays of shiny and smiling female faces greet me from flashy lightbox advertisements. It’s overwhelming to witness the domination of “miraculous” facial modifications in the undergrounds of Seoul: the so-called plastic surgery capital of the world. According to a study by ISAPS, women in Korea have performed approximately 20,330,465 procedures, taking up about 87.4% of total cases of plastic surgery in 2018. Furthermore, female leads on Hollywood movie posters are photoshopped when introduced to the Korean audience. Through evident alterations, natural features such as tanned skin, freckles, and even hints of arm muscles are augmented and replaced with a skinnier waist, emphasized hip curvatures, and paler skin tone—features aligning directly with the Korean beauty standard. In this regard, one can infer the conspicuous culture of facial modification in women, as well as rigid standards of beauty disseminated in the Korean society.
Why are medical procedures that transform appearances encouraged publicly and even popularized? Why is it necessary for movie posters to be edited? Most importantly, why are women the predominant subjects in these matters? The answer to these questions essentially relates back to the underlying concept of “Lookism” that Korean society upholds as a social norm, especially pressuring women to conform. Lookism, or 외모지상주의 (Oemo jisangjuui), is the prejudice established upon physical appearance that does not comply with the accepted societal notion of beauty (Esri).
Struggling to meet Korea's unrealistic beauty standards, women who fall below the benchmark suffer incomprehensible discrimination with no boundaries in time and place. In job interviews, personal capabilities are often clouded by physical appearances; some women fail to even be considered for interviews because their resume photos were not photoshopped enough. The marriage market favors those with slim figures, flawless pale skin, and small faces; women
who appear more plump are considered to have failed at taking care of themselves. The above-mentioned cosmetic surgeries and photoshop merely exemplify only some of the approaches Korean women adopt, with the intention to avoid suffering from serious social predicaments. Aside from these practices, Korean women moreover follow extreme diets recommended by K-Pop idols; avoid wearing glasses; and perform liposuction in desired body parts.
Enlightening, or at least stimulating speculation in regards to the intrinsic value of physical appearance will be critical in bringing about a societal change. The mass population should be provoked in questioning why women are expected to alter their face shapes; why women in the workplace are judged upon their bodies; and why women feel as though their physical factors define their worth. Fortunately, the future appears promising as such actions have already begun within the media: a platform that generates influence among a wide audience. The Escape the Corset Movement involves many women who have openly expressed their protest against the suppressive beauty ideals of Korea. Under the hashtag of #EscapeTheCorset, women upload pictures of themselves with shortly cut hair and no makeup—symbolizing their battles against stringent expectations constricting around women like corsets. If the power of women to shape their own identities is restored through such efforts, the media could exert profound influence and ultimately reshape the perception of society at large. The unjust social structure encouraging women to alter their intrinsic values will then unsettle, shift, and finally crash. There is nothing wrong with one’s pursuit of physical beauty; what is unacceptable is the corrupt social system that promotes modification of physical features for women, at the overbearing cost of losing unique identities. In a sense, it is creating a homogeneous female population wearing identical masks.