Dear Korean,
My father is an avid Korean drama/soap watcher. I've noticed that most of the young actors and actresses get nose jobs and double-eyelid surgery. What ever happened to keeping your unique Korean look -- the slanty eyes, flat nose, and rabbit cheeks? Did you guys lose pride in your physical characteristics? I understand the "Western"/Caucasian look has been a beauty standard for as long as they've influenced the world but still...
Dear Viet,
It's not just young actors and actresses -- it's everyone. The statistics about plastic surgery in Korea (particularly with respect to women) cannot be described by any other words than FUCKING ASTOUNDING. Consider the following:
- 76 percent (!) of Korean women in their 20s and 30s have undergone plastic surgery. Most of them were epicanthoplasty (i.e. the "double-eyelid surgery".) (So does this mean that 24 percent of Korean women are naturally hot? Something to think about.)
- 25 percent of Korean mothers who have daughters between the ages of 12 and 16 suggested plastic surgery to their daughters. (In the Korean's "Pantheon of Fucked-Up Statistics", this figure has to be the king -- or is it queen?-- slightly leading the figure that nearly 30 percent of South Africa is HIV-positive.)
- 27.4 percent of Korean college graduate job seekers (19 percent of men, 34.1 percent of women) thought they did not fare well in the interview because of their looks. 28.5 precent of job seekers have already undergone plastic surgery or have planned plastic surgery in order to perform better in the job market.
Personally, the Korean thinks the plastic surgery craze in Korea is a disgusting national disease. Nevertheless, the cause of this madness is fairly straightforward and understandable -- it's a blend of conformity, sexism, and a hyper-competitive society.
First, the ever-present Korean conformity. The Korean covered this topic long, long ago, back when it was only the Korean's friends sending in the questions for the blog. In the older post the Korean gave a quick-and-dirty answer, but this is really the true cause of the Korean conformist culture: that Korea went from pre-modern to post-modern, a process that took other countries about 150 years, in about 40 years.
Truth is, all pre-modern, agriculture-based socities are conformist. Such societies usually consist of tight-knit communities, whose members must all cooperate in order to earn a living. (Think of the Amish community for an American example.) Homogeneity is a natural outgrowth of such societies.
The Korean will say this point again and again until everyone understands this - ONLY 40 YEARS AGO, KOREA WAS POORER THAN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. So although the miraculous economic growth took Korea to the forefront of modernity, Korea continues to drag its cultural baggage from the pre-modern, agricultural era.
Practically, this baggage-carrying resulting from compressed economic growth means that Korean people constantly care about what other people think about them. It doesn't help that Koreans tend to live very close to one another in massive cities, therefore never having a chance to get the hell away from everyone else.
So if a popular trend develops in Korea, Koreans follow that trend without thinking twice about it, because other people do it too. At times, this is a source of great national strength. When there is something that demands a truly national-scale cooperation, like the Olympics or the World Cup, there are no better people than Koreans to extract that cooperation. However, infuriatingly, a trend often makes many Koreans lemmings.
Unfortunately, the trend of beauty in Korea became this Westernized face, so people follow it without thinking twice about it. Once the beauty trend is established, every Korean starts demanding something that conforms that trend. What is an actor/actress to do? In order to become and stay popular, they all go through plastic surgery to conform the goddamn trend.
But this is not enough to explain the whole plastic surgery madness, especially regarding the general population. The second part of the trend is old school sexism. Simply put, Korean women get plastic surgery because they are being judged only on their looks. This is not all that different worldwide, so no further explanation would be necessary.
But what makes the sexism particularly devastating is that it operates within a hyper-competitive society. Right now, the unemployment rate among young Korean workers is around 12 percent -- and that's not counting those who are staying longer in colleges and graduate schools because the job market is too tough. And Korean resumes always have a place for you to affix your picture (something that is legally prohibited in the U.S.) Given that one's appearance is a large (often the only) factor in one's ability to find a job, what crazy person would not get plastic surgery?
Nonetheless, the Korean will maintain his stance - this plastic surgery craze, and the current standard of female beauty as a whole in Korea, are sickening. Eventually, Korea will get out of its conformist culture, and its standard of beauty will change accordingly. Until that day, enjoy the wonders of modern medical science, on display on AZN Network every night.
-EDIT 10/29/2009 6:43 p.m.- According to a survey by Chosun Ilbo, 90 percent of Korean women in their 20s and 30s said they would get plastic surgery to feel better about themselves.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
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28 COMMENTS:
I think you have a great blog--I don't know where you find the time and patience to explain everything. I once read that the moment you understand something, you lose the desire to explain it--to explain is to distance yourself from it. Whether that's true or not for all people is a point of contention. For me, having lived in Korea for nine years, I think my desire to explain Korea to others truly disappeared, especially to my Korean-American friends. I find myself telling them, "You just have to live in Korea to understand." But I think you should keep up this blog. It has made me smile, laugh and nod in all the right places.
More on point for this particular post, I don't think a little cosmetic surgery is a very bad thing. What bothers me more is that so many Korean girls will have a procedure done and then deny ever having done anything in the first place. Did you check out Miss Korea this past year, the one who placed fourth at Miss Universe? I thought she was hot, hot, hot and I am not even straight, straight, straight. To me, it was pretty clear that she had a nose job done, but in an interview she gave, she denied ever having had any work performed. But no actor or entertainer worth his or her weight in gold ever admits to having had plastic surgery, so I can't really blame Miss Korea for what she said.
Is true beauty inner beauty? How nice. How cliche. How false. How naive. Take your pick. I doubt that there's a correct answer to this very tricky question that has spawned multiple choices.
I will never, ever understand young people getting cosmetic surgery, especially kids in their teens. Well, okay, I do understand why people do it, the peer pressure and the desire to fix things they don't like about themselves or things they think others don't like. But I can't imagine that it's healthy psychologically or physically. And those stats you cited are shocking.
Then you have movies like 200 Pounds Beauty which essentially reinforce the idea that doors open to you if you get cosmetic surgery (at least I think that's what it's saying, although I haven't seen it yet). Sounds like irresponsible filmmaking to me.
Let's not start a flamewar on who's at fault for all the things we don't like in this world on this comment board.
I was in Korea last year and I saw a lot of hot girls in the streets of Seoul and Pusan. I live near Koreatown L.A. and I was wondering why there were not as many hot girls there. Could be the plastic surgery, but my guts says that girls in Korea walk A LOT more so they just stay thinner and healthy looking.
Lots of Korean girls get the eye lid surgery and in my opinion, it doesn't help them. Their looks go up, maybe 5% overall. The funniest is when fat girls do it. They could of just dieted and worked out and saved themselves a couple of grand. Wait... eye lid surgery is cheaper then lipo, huh? Nevermind.
This is so true .
I'm a Filipina. and I am able to deal with these Koreans since I do private tutorials .
I was able to get hold of their culture and on how they perceive things .
Koreans, for a fact has such a large percentage that believes good looks equate greater opportunities.
Korean commonly tend to have double eyelid surgery, that painful 'jaw reduction' and nose job.
Lets not forget CNN, Tyra Banks Show and all those youtube video clips. Asian women's main motivation for plastic surgery is to look more like all those beautiful caucasian women in the movies.
Complete with blue contact lenes and dyed hair.
Hello,
Do you happen to remember where the statistics you cite (about plastic surgery rates and mothers pressuring daughters) came from? You got quoted in the South Korea article in Wikipedia (under Culture and Entertainment), and it would be helpful to have more original sources.
Thanks!
ginny,
that's a problem because I can't locate them anymore. Originally, the numbers were from various news article on an online newspaper that I read daily. However, at some point the newspaper changed something about its search function, and I can't find them anymore. As far as I can remember, the crazy one (76%) came from either Vogue or Elle Korea.
Hello : )
I'm a korean girl going to a korean school.
and for my assignment I have to research and write about the plastic surgery boom in korea.
Umm : ) Just wanted to say thank you for the post! I liked your post- and its going to be a help for me : D!
Hahahah Although I do doubt that the statistics are true xDDD that half the women population have undergoed plastic surgery. but i do agree that the plastic surgery subject is taken way too freely here. Sadly our society is this way :( and it often hurts me that everytime I meet someone new, they ask me if I had plastic surgery- saying that even 10 year old gets plastic surgery if theyre korean. (which is absolutely false lol)
Oh and to the commenter above
Plastic surgery is not allowed for teens... >_>;
at least. in the schools in korea.
but ive heard of korean-american girls doing plastic surgery and its allowed in the states.
but in korea, its not allowed :)
I am an ESL teacher in Korea. I live about 4 hours south of Seoul. I teach middle and high school kids. The middle school girls asked me if I had ever had plastic surgery. This surprised me. Then the college intern I was working with told me if I wanted plastic surgery I should go to Mokpo because there was a really good surgeon there. Plastic surgery is the number one winter break activity for middle and high school girls in Korea, according to the Korea Times. Eyelid surgery is frequently performed on middle school girls. I have seen it. Also boob jobs are big. No pun intended, but yeah, looks are really important and having that double eyelid is key. I don't know about mother's recommending surgery to their daughters, but I wouldn't doubt it. Whatever it takes to get ahead.
Hi Korean! Excellent unbiased blog you run here. Forgive me for my abrasiveness, but you appear to give the impression that you are ethnic Korean, when you a clearly not, which does mislead people about the perspective you're coming from.
On the topic, I would just like to elaborate that although I agree that plastic surgery is prevailent in South Korea, I would like to distinguish the fact that getting double eye-lid surgery should not be considered full-blown surgery.
Considering that many double-eyelid procedures can be done by simply making strategic pinches in the eye without incision, demonstrates how minor this surgery can be. Furthermore, in most cases, simple eyelid surgery will not turn unattrative people into attractive ones. Those who are attractive simply enhance their existing attractiveness by reducing the slant of their eyes. I would say that double-eyelid surgery is as minor as permanent make-up.
Personally, I believe that if you were to remove the double eyelid procedure from the overall plastic surgery statistics, you would get a lower rate of plastic surgery than that in the US or other Asian nations.
Just wanted to clear that up.
I was wondering if Koreans really do undergo a knife operation to enhance their looks based on the movies and series. "200 Pounds Beauty" would be an exaggeration, but based on the answer you provided, I think I can conclude that it is so. No wonder Korean actress looks so different with regard to look and stance, compared to the common Korean women living in the Philippines.
Western culture have large impact based on looks, as Western civilization was so amazed with the beauty of a real Asian. I guess both envy and get awed to something that we normally do not have or possessed.
Thanks for your post.
this is an interesting blog. i mean, all of it. well, the ones i read. it explains lots of things that confuse me.
i had this argument with my mother once, about koreans and their constant copying and following trends. my dad tried to explain it to me, but i didnt understand but now i kinda do.
im korean, and it makes me really angry, all these korean girls and their goddammned plastic surgery. for some reason i was born with "double eyelids" and pale skin and all my life other koreans would gush all over me and be like "you look eurasian," "is your dad white" etc. i guess it gave me a bix of a complex, made me feel like being korean-looking wasnt good enough, that the more white i looked, the more eurasian, the more people would like me. which is fucked up. it makes me really angry you know what i mean? i personally find slanted eyes extremely attractive in a very unique way, and alot of asians have really nice big lips, and i think thats real nice and it makes me angry that all these poor little easily-influenced girls feel like theyre not good enough because their eyes arent big enough, their skins too dark, etc etc.
those so called korean soap stars have a fucking social responsibility. stop making these poor girls undergo the emotional and physical trauma that comes with plastic surgery. you know what though? i have a typical korean nose, the small round nose, and i wear it with pride. i refuse to change anything about myself, physically. unless im being unhealthy. like i really need to quit smoking cancer sticks. engh. but i will never ever have plastic surgery. i hate it because alot of people assume i have had plastic surgery. once i even asked my mum if she had given me plastic surgery when i was a baby because i was so worried cos everyone kept asking me. hahaha.
i want someone in korea to speak up about these problems. cos im going there at the end of this year and im really scared. im not fat but im not skinny skinny either and . well, i dont wanna end up killing someone cos of their fakeness and conformity.
anyway, thats all. have a nice day, etc etc.
ps. dont worry, i would never kill ANYONE.
wow this is really interesting...
I'm cacausian, living in canada. I've been asked by my korean friends whether or not i've had surgery (which i have not), and they often make comments about how much they want the eye shape and color, blonde hair, etc. Some of my asian friends really seem to feel so terrible about the way they look - constantly applying eyemakeup to make their eyes appear larger, using skin creams to lighten their skin, and wishing for lighter hair color
I really think this is awful... because frankly, the whole time they are praising my 'westerner' looks, i am wishing that i could look more like them. I would love to have the black hair and dark, mysterious eyes of my asian friends. They are so beautiful!
i'm currently dating a korean man though, and worry about his parents' opinions...i don't have a low self-esteem.. i have always loved myself the way i am...so maybe I wish i could look asian, so his parents won't be worrying so much about what our offspring will look like..
anyways... another thing about korean women....is the weight :(
I'm 5'2", and average weight... but my korean friends all say how skinny the women are there, and the bf expects me to wear a bikini at the beach... i'm totally ok with a bikini here, where the girls actually have some meat on their bones... but im really scared about being criticized when i go there. i haven't met my bf's family yet, but his sister saw a pic of me and said i was fat. canadians say i'm skinny! ...well, like h.k. - not fat, but not skinnyskinny either =) I don't get it...
when his friends hear that he's dating a 'westerner' they all expect a moviestar :( they say i look like Emma Watson, which is nice and flattering, but it really bothers me that they can't just see me as a normal person...one time, i was talking to my bf with the webcam while he was at his university, and his friend walked by and accused him of watching porn! he said because im a westerner. I was really insulted. I dress very conservatively, and wear minimal makeup. I am just a normal girl, and i really with they could understand that not all westerners look or act like movie stars. i know there are "normal" girls in korea, but it just seems to me that they expect so much from me just because i'm from north america.
ummm...sorry, that kinda became a rant....too long, and kinda......well, ya... sorryyy!!! :)
Amen, I agree with everything the Korean said, I called it the national obsession but I think he says it better calling it a “disgusting national disease.” I would like to add one word – disgraceful. I think that Koreans are smart and creative in general, but when it comes to this one topic, plastic surgery, I think they are beyond retarded. All these Korean women who had the surgery are so well practiced at lying that they will look you straight in the face without blinking a surgically scarred eye, and tell you that it is all natural. I got so tired of these women lying to me that I started to say that I don’t believe them unless they show me proof with a picture of themselves at age five or seven. Try it and see what happens. There is no better way to shout out to the world that you hate your race than surgically changing your eyes and nose. Imagine if millions of non-Asian people were going to plastic surgeons to erase their double eyelids. I read somewhere a Korean woman saying she is ashamed of her race because of the plastic surgery madness. I can fully understand. I think it is quite accurate that only about 24 percent of Korean women are really hot and the rest are so-so, but that goes for all races not just Asians.
I'm a new reader and enjoying this very informative blog. Being a caucasian in Toronto, Canada who has semi recently gotten into "visually charged" K-Pop scene, music videos with Popular Song type of shows to be exact, I couldn't help wondering "Where do Korean media moguls "find" such unrealistic, almost blinding beauty?" Don't mean to be offensive but central Canada has quite visible Korean population, I've known my share at various stages of their life and bottom line is: close to zero resemblance with anybody on screen. It's fair comparising as Western media versus reality: take average actor without makeup, fitting brand name clothing-you'll get every third "Joe" downtown Toronto. On the other hand, it feels like manga ideas were taken too seriousely in Seoul: extremely young "project members" with wide open eyes, tiny nose, full lips, white skin. Wait, gets even further with time: now girls are having tiny faces, waist but "juicy butt" and unbelivable cleavage. Guys are with six-pack abs and jaw dropping 170cm in height. Very doubtful nature of those transformations seems to be well explained as "every body part that could be done was done". Sounds desperate, even pathetic.Then my concerns are: "Why/how such money grabbing industry is easily supported by general public?" They must be having "money to burn" as it won't help much. Conservative country seems to find "special" ways to get people into pricey, dangerous things.Here it's just "little" crap that adds up (smoking, drinking, phone bills).
Anyhow, sorry for anything incorrect at five in the morning. Great read (comments included).
Love reading your blog Korean.
I'm currently living in Daegu (have been for six years now) and have seen amazing amounts of plastic surgery done. Asked my Korean girl friends about it and they said the double eyelid surgery is very cheap and that almost every Korean girl gets it at some point.
And yes the emphasis on appearances is at the root of this problem, its also at the root of their credit issues also. Everyone here wants to look the best and be beautiful that it kinda gets overwhelming after awhile. Then you become numb to it and it doesn't really matter much.
Personally I'm not for nor against plastic surgery. Couldn't care less either way. If a women wants to change something whatever, but I think its gotten too bad over here and needs to hard core slow down.
- Let's stop perpetuating the erroneous myth that Korean women get eye-lid surgery to look more Caucasian. It's fiction. It's untrue. And this myth inflates the egos of westerners who want to believe that Asians will go to any lengths to emulate them. The double eye-lid is an indigenous trait among Koreans that those without wish to obtain. Light skin, likewise, is also an indigenous trait, that those with less than the fairest skin, also wish to have. Height, intelligence, wealth, status ... can also be included among the qualities desired by Koreans before the advent of the white man; and even absent the white man, would continue to persist as desirable objectives.
- In regards to conformity/homogeneity, while your point about pre-modern agriculture-based societies have merit, it doesn't explain everything. In fact, I suspect it explains less than even half. Japan, for instance, has been an "advanced" nation for some time now and it still remains among the most conformist, homogenized societies ... arguably even more so than Korea! I think the "conformity" that informs Korea can be better explained by its underlying culture/religion/philosophy. For example, E. Asia's Confucian-based system of morality is not guided by a "holy book" or sacrosanct law, as is characteristically in the west. Rather, it is a system that is fluid, malleable, contingent and utilitarian and enforced societally through peer pressure. Morality in the west is something more or less between man and God. In E. Asia, in contrast, morality is an issue between man and society. Consequently, one can see that for the average person, conformity is the easiest way to make sure one remains in good stead with societal mores.
Hi there,
I am a mix of asian and white and I was born with a double eyelid on one side and mono eyelid on the other. I am very self conscious about it and would like to get it fixed so they match. Do you know of a well known plastic surgeon, preferably a Korean doctor, in Southern California? Thanks!
My own mother underwent double eyelid surgery because she claimed her lashes impaired her vision. Um, no. Even though she got the procedure done years ago, I knew her answer was full of crap. She got surgery because she wanted to look better, not because her non-existent lashes were poking her eyes.
I'm an ethnic Korean and I feel that though this procedure may be common, not every Korean with big eyes/double eye lids went through surgery. My father's side has strong noses and big eyes without a defined crease. My mother's side has the crease, but in her case her eyes are smaller, and a more "typical" flatter nose. In both cases it is natural through their family's genetics. Full Korean.
Now what if this surgery wasn't around? There are other ways (glue, tape, contacts) that people can get this without it being permanent. Does it make it more okay? Would there be such a concern about this? I guess it wouldn't be anymore serious than hair dye or a push up bra.
It's ashame that the world is influenced greatly by western Europe and the US. However, even the caucasians will want artificial looks to resemble what is said to be beautiful.
Nothing to say except that I think The Korean is dead-on correct. Being someone who likes to understand things in a simple way, I struggled for awhile trying to come up with a broad characterization of Korean society. Then it hit me: Koreans are like bratty teenagers. Once I started treating them like snotty 12 year olds, they started to respond well to me. Note, I am a Korean-American, who immigrated to the US with my parents back in 1980.
OMG, I found your site through Dramabeans and I'm so happy she shared the link to this amazing blog.
To: THE KOREAN
You keep making some mistakes typical of a Korean ESL learner (esp., dropping articles).
I think it is interesting that you poke fun at others who make grammatical errors on this site.
Referring to yourself in the 3rd person is funny, for a paragraph, but doing it over and over and over and overkill.....
u know.
It's pretty sad when I realized only several weeks that many Koreans, in fact, have had plastic surgery. I've been keeping up with some Korean music, and I find many of the female singers attractive, which makes me think: "Which of these artists have undergone surgery?"
So, which artists have not gotten surgery? And which ones certainly have?
Also, I find Koreans generally attractive. Koreans in my area are scarce, and the ones that I occasionally see are very pretty. They're around my age (late teens), so I highly doubt they've gotten it. Basically, I just want to say that I feel that Koreans are fine as they are.
This is a really funny blog - congrats!
Just to add to discussion about plastic surgery and obsession with appearance. (You will probably hate this but since all I know about popular culture is via K - dramas...)
Very often in the dialogue, one character implies another character is really great because he/ she is good looking - realistic portrayal of Korean thinking or dramatic license?
I'm in the 10% in my 20's who wouldn't get plastic surgery because I am scared of the pain (and because my dad told me he would kill me if I did). My parents' views have since then changed as they watch more Korean dramas.............. but I am still scared of any pain that I have to pay for.... so will stay away.
I think the fact that I don't live in Korea also helps. :)
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