South Korean Women Object to Beauty Pressure

 

For years, Park I Seul either ate too little or too much as she worked toward her dream of becoming a fashion model.

But she is not tall enough or thin enough to be a model in usual fashion shows. And she is not big enough to be a plus-size model.

Park believed that the only way to meet South Korea’s beauty ideals was for her to deny who she truly is.

In South Korea, a woman weighing over 50 kilograms is considered by many to be big, no matter how tall she is. Park herself weighs 62 kilograms. She is 165 centimeters tall.

That is far from the ideal model body of 170 centimeters in height and 40 to 48 kilograms in weight.

Park, who is 25, has decided¹ to call herself a “natural-size model.” She defines it as a model with the same kind of body you see in daily life, as opposed to a difficult-to-reach ideal. She has started a YouTube channel, where she introduces styles for women who look more like her than the models in magazines.

Park said, “I used to think that my fat body wasn’t the real me and that living in such a body wasn’t my real life. I kept denying myself. I believed that my life would only become happy after I lost weight." She added, “I’ve come to think that I look good enough just the way I am.”

Sohn Hee-jeong is a researcher at the Institute of Gender² Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul. She says more Korean women are now willing to challenge societal demands of their looks.

Cha Ji Won is an example. The 24-year-old runs a YouTube channel called “Korean Womyn.” She publishes videos of her daily life. She wears comfortable clothes and does not worry about her hair or makeup³. Cha says she eats whatever she wants and does not think about how much fat she is eating.

Cha told the Associated Press, “I hoped that by letting other women know that there is someone like me, I could remind them that they don’t have to care too much (about how they look) and spend so much money and time on their appearance.”

Hong is an 18-year-old high school student. She recently objected to a series of classes at her all-girls school. The classes included “Makeup for college freshmen,” ″Fashion styling for college freshmen” and “How to make a healthy body figure.” The classes were removed after Hong and other students told reporters about them.

A 2015 Gallup Korea report found that about one-third of South Korean women between the ages of 19 and 29 said they had had plastic surgery – procedures to change their physical appearance.

Park Jiehyun works at Cosmopolitan⁴ Korea, a popular fashion magazine. She said, “I think (South Korean women) want to look perfect." She added, “They believe they should have a nice body and skin, beautiful eyes, nose and mouth, and even sleek⁵ hair with a perfect hairline."

But Park says rising feminist⁶ movements and changing values are redirecting how beauty is presented. In its December issue, Cosmopolitan Korea put a popular South Korean comedian⁷, Lee Young-ja, on the cover. Lee is larger than most of the models the magazine has put on its cover.

But changes are still slow to reach professional workplaces. A 2018 employment survey from the Korean company Saramin found that female job seekers are often judged more for their looks than male job seekers.

Choi Min Jeong still remembers when her supervisor⁸ told her that she had to work harder because she was not as beautiful as one popular South Korean actress.

Choi, who worked at a company that produced drinks, said, “Although he said it as a joke, I thought it was ridiculous that he said it when ... my job was unrelated to appearance.”

Kwon Su Jeong worked for 24 years with Asiana, a major South Korean airline. Kwon is currently on leave from Asiana so she can work in Seoul’s city council. She says Asiana often demands female flight attendants to follow much more strict dress rules than males.

“They control everything, from your hairstyle to the color of your lipstick⁹ and nails to the length and shape of your earrings,” Kwon said.

Asiana strongly denied that it makes unfair demands or puts pressure on its employees to look a special way.

Words in This Story

ideal - n. an idea or standard of perfection

style - n. a particular form or design

challenge - v. to question the action or authority

comfortable - adj. allowing you to be relaxed

makeup - n. substances such as lipstick or powder used to make someone's face more attractive

figure - n. the shape or form of a person's body

sleek - adj. smooth and shiny

survey - n. an activity in which many people are asked questions in other to gather information

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

3 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

4 cosmopolitan   

adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的

参考例句：

• New York is a highly cosmopolitan city.纽约是一个高度世界性的城市。
• She has a very cosmopolitan outlook on life.她有四海一家的人生观。

5 sleek   

adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢

参考例句：

• Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
• The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。

6 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

7 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

8 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

9 lipstick   

n.口红，唇膏

参考例句：

• Taking out her lipstick,she began to paint her lips.她拿出口红，开始往嘴唇上抹。
• Lipstick and hair conditioner are cosmetics.口红和护发素都是化妆品。