SOUTH KOREA AND EXTREME PLASTIC SURGERY: QUESTIONABLE?

PLASTIC SURGERY IN SOUTH KOREA: The pretty TV presenter who deformed herself . . . for the sake of a 'heart-shaped’ face.

This is a response to the above mentioned article (you can click on the link to read the article and to find the source of following pictures) about extreme plastic surgery in South Korea.

AFTER

BEFORE

Two words: OH MY! This woman who has undergone relatively extreme plastic surgery was pretty before her surgery! So typical. 

I don't mind plastic surgery as long as it's fully a personal choice. However in South Korea the plastic surgery tendency comes with a questionable degree of societal pressure. I wouldn't say that this woman in question can be "accused" of ruining her face, 'cause in the end it was HER choice and she didn't harm anybody by doing it. Therefore other people shouldn't accuse her of anything or tell her what to do. 

After reading this article, I cannot agree with the claim that Asian people want to look western. Insofar generalizations are allowed, there is a tendency of wanting to look different in a certain way. However, this does not necessarily mean 'western', i.e. Caucasian. Logically, the beauty ideal in Asia can differ from those in other places around the world and it's almost a universality that people in general want to look different than the way they actually do. The grass is always greener on the other side, isn't it?! We, humans, in fact like the things that are hard to acquire, such as characteristics opposite to ours. The moment we attain relatively difficult to acquire things the level of satisfaction is much higher in comparison with things not requiring any efforts. From this point of view, it almost seems logic that Asian people want to look different than the way they are and on top of that are willing to do efforts for it. Likely, this also counts for Caucasian people, who for example have white skin but like to be brown; who have bigger noses and prefer to have smaller ones. 

The reason why South Korean people do a lot of plastic surgery in my opinion is first of all caused by the societal pressure and need to look conform to the surrounding people. This shared feeling of unwillingness to go against the tide is strong here. Secondly, as a modern compressed society South Korea is highly competitive and looking prettier according to already established beauty ideals gives people a bigger chance to succeed in life. And lastly, the popular culture in South Korea represents and reflects perfectly those existing norms about beauty: if you are not pretty you can (or even should) do something about it. In short, if you are good-looking you have more chances to become successful and attain recognition from the entire society more easily. It's exactly at this moment, when plastic surgery comes flying in quite handy as some sort of magical tool, that we are urged to raise the question: when it comes to appearances, have South Korean people come to believe that the end always justifies the means?!

Another way to explain this tendency of drastic plastic surgery is to compare it with disorders such as anorexia and boulimia. Societal pressures force people to have an appearance conform to a certain norm and also make people willing to go extreme in order to attain that norm. Furthermore, in analogy with above mentioned appearance-associated disorders, I believe that extreme plastic surgery is often regarded as a means to stay in control of one's own life. People struggling with these disorders often realize very well that our body belongs to only us and no one else. More precisely, it's the first 'tool' we can use to take our life in our own hands and decide about it independently. However, some decisions caused by societal pressures are extreme according to other standards. 

If you would like to discuss this hot topic further, feel free to leave a comment below.

So long,

Lara

P.S. Oh, one message to all those Korean men out there: PLEASE DON'T DO THE JAW SURGERY TO MAKE YOUR CHIN MORE POINTY! It's more manly and attractive to most women if you have a more rectangular face instead of a pointy flower boy face with a pointy chin! (Yeah, you hyeonbin (현빈), did you do it? Seems like you did... Because you were more handsome before all the weight you lost and the plastic surgery. Although flower boys are pretty they often lack the handsomeness of a manly man! Please spare me the disappointment of having to shockingly see your face after you've undergone extreme plastic surgery. Gracias!

I have written an entry related to plastic surgery already about a year ago!:

"Fashion in Korea"

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