It is no secret that South Korea since the 1970s has
been spearheading the global cosmetic surgery market.
South Korea has internalized the beauty myth to such an extent that it has gained
a reputation as the plastic surgery mecca of the world.
As I noted earlier, South Korea has the highest proportion of its
population undergoing cosmetic surgery to achieve the perfect appearance.
And Gangnam has become the most popular destination for plastic surgery in Asia.
In the past decade, Korean models and K-pop stars have started to set the new
standards of beauty at home and abroad with their physical appearance.
Well, one can argue that people have obsessed over the perfect body types such
as the hourglass figure,
the trend among young South Koreans today is to alphabetize body lines.
I want you all to now read this very interesting article from Slate Magazine
and then watch a short clip by Arirang TV,
an international English language network based in Seoul
operated by the Korea International Broadcast Foundation,
which criticizes female celebrities for having healthy legs.
The way we profile them in the clip all seem to be normal by Western standards
yet criticized for having reddish ankles and thighs.
What are your impressions after watching the Arirang clip and
reading the article on the alphabetization of female bodies
where the letters that are aspirational,
ones that are regarded as most popular, such as the curvy S and the slender X?
What does this say about beauty ideal standards in contemporary Korean society?
And the extreme lengths in which South Korean women go to attain or
maintain such unrealistic standards?
If Korean women have been beholden to unrealistic body expectations in the past
five years
Korean men have been bombarded images that blurred gender lines but
often unrealistic and eye popping.
The ‘Hwarang’ or ‘flower boy’ belongs to a cultural and military corps
made up of sons of elites during the Silla Dynasty which
dates back to 57 BCE to 935 CE.
They were known both for their valor and physical beauty and
considered idols of their era.
Although I didn't mention this in my lecture on universal military conscription
in South Korea
a new identity has emerged in this K-Pop drama obsessed country, creating
a new male cultural model, akin to the hwarang.
These ‘kkot minam’ or
‘flower boys’ first appeared in the drama “Boys Over Flower” in 2009.
They did not display the virile or
warrior-like image idolized by previous generations
but popularized the androgynous look, blurring gender lines
possessing both male and female characteristics.
For example in 2011, South Korean men spent a remarkable $495.4
million on skin care products, or roughly 21% of global sales.
If the rise of the metrosexual gained prominence in popular culture and
the fashion industry in the past decade
the most recent drama, “Descendents of the Sun” in 2016, ‘Taeyang e Huye,
which I mentioned in my first lecture
offered yet a different ideal for Korean men which became an instant hit and
received immense popularity across Asia.
This drama has been hailed as a trendsetter for
the new male image of the spornosexual male,
a term defined by Mark Simpson to describe a cultural phenomenon towards buffness.
men who strive to look like sportsman or porn stars,
marking the next stage in the evolution of the preening mediated metrosexual.