Korean beauty standards. Main characteristics and consequences.

The issue of beauty in South Korea is quite striking because in the first instance, Korean women are beautiful, so the use of makeup and other beauty routines should take a secondary place in their lives, however, this is not the case due to to the high standards of beauty existing in the entire country.

All this behavior is not new to this generation, it has been a distinctive feature of this culture since the beginning of its formation as a society around the year 936 with the unification of Korea by the Emperor Taejo.

At present, all this beauty fever has been linked to social norms that have been imposed by the country's upper class through all these years where practically the woman is forced to look good no matter how. Let us all remember the strong cultural influence that exists in this country, which largely conditions the decision that a person can make, often being an obstacle to those who do not feel identified with it.

In order to create behavior patterns favorable to the image that the Korean Government wishes to establish in society and thereby export it to other countries. The use of marketing has been fundamentally and a key part in this entire process.

Aggressive promotion.

In South Korea it is promoted the thin woman. This is the market established by large corporations and the image that is shown to society on a daily basis. It is not just about being a beautiful woman, you must also have an attractive body, wrinkle-free skin and even meet an average height. All this without mentioning the issue of age which is an interesting topic which could be explained in another article.

The entire city of Seoul is plagued with billboards where these aesthetic patterns are aggressively placed in the minds of people, mainly women, to continue creating a state of insecurity in those that do not have the physical characteristics that the media show daily. The other tool used to achieve these objectives and the most effective are social networks to which everyone has free access.

It's not just the constant use of makeup that's scary in this country.

In addition to being South Korea one of the largest exporters of beauty products on this side of the world, it is also one of the leading countries in plastic and aesthetic surgeries.

The development in medical technology has come with new and "revolutionary" aesthetic procedures that are scary, one of the strangest and most popular these days is skin bleaching to which thousands of Koreans, mainly women, are undergoing. The treatment mainly consists of clarifying the complexion of the people, something really dangerous for the health of everyone who undergoes said treatment. All this is due to the popular belief that exists in the country, which explains that having whiter skin is synonymous with supreme beauty and economic solvency. 

In the same way, fixing parts of the face such as the lips, nose, cheeks, lower eyelids, ears, face in general and parts of the body is a common activity to which thousands of Koreans (including men) are exposed, although of course the largest percentage that performs these activities are young women aged between between 15 to 35 years. 

People who undergo the aforementioned practices proudly show the changes made to their bodies to society because it is also a sign that these people have enough money to perform these surgeries. These beauty standards are sold abroad in order to show the economic and aesthetic development of the Korean population and manage to establish a gap that separates Western and Eastern beauty.

Modifying the shape of the face through cheap tools is also a common practice for those who do not have enough budget to face cosmetic surgery. These are elastic bandages that are placed on the face of people which exert a backward force capable, according to doctors, of modifying the shape of the jaw to make it more pointed. Stories that seem like fiction and it is that fiction is nourished by this type of reality.

The vision of a Korean woman is usually quite narrow and conditioned in many cases due to her culture that creates patterns of submission in their behavior. That is why the woman of this country will feel ashamed of not being accepted by her family, friends, members of her work or society in general simply because of her appearance, bringing with it serious consequences. 

One of the most visible are suicides, which are the result of establishing such a strict culture in such a technologically developed society. Whether or not to wear makeup and follow strict beauty routines is the decision of each person, always when it is for pleasure or free will and not out of obligation.

In this article I talked about obesity although I referred to it from a general point of view based on the evidence provided by society. This time I will try to explain this problem in the current society that I have had to live in and that many due to ignorance adore.

Without reviewing numbers or statistics and simply going to visual information, I have noticed that the percentage of obese people in this country is quite low. It is difficult to find people with this disease walking the streets. All this taking into account the existence of hundreds of fast food businesses, including large franchises that operate all over the world, such as McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Domino's Pizzas, etc. Now:

What happens to the percentage of the female population that is overweight?

Women with this condition in this country live quite a complicated life where the main aggravating factor, as I explained before, is culture. If getting a job for an ordinary Korean woman can be difficult, imagine how challenging this activity can be for an obese woman. All this without mentioning social life in general.

The beauty in the life of Korean men.

In most underdeveloped countries, 98 percent of people will think that every man who puts on makeup for the simple fact of looking good is gay when in reality it is not so, although of course there are cases of this as is normal everywhere however in Korea, like women, many men fear not being accepted by the rest of society, so they turn to makeup as a solution. It is not only about men involved in the world of art or fashion, these practices are common in workers of companies among other public services. Something very curious and popular takes place at weddings held in this country where the husband always wears excess makeup, even more so than the wife herself.

There are also really rare surgeries to which the Korean man undergoes, such as lengthening the male reproductive member by a few centimeters or even a kind of surgery that is known to increase one's height a little. The latter forces the patient to remain in a wheelchair for more than 6 months, being one of the most risky.

The influence of the media.

In recent years, Korea has been in the news as a result of its actors and artists who have placed this small country in the spotlight of the world. A clear example of what I am telling you here is Google searches where the search index for BTS-related content surpasses any other search objective related to this country. It is precisely these popular groups that establish patterns to follow due to their national and global repercussions. They are also the same ones that promote an aesthetically perfect being. A man far from masculinity, a weak man.

This is the reality that a country like Korea lives where in many cases appearance is a priority ahead of other much more important values.

The message driving Korean society is clear:

“Beauty is important in our economic system and if you don't meet the established standards you will have to work twice as hard to achieve what you want.”