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| Just so you know, this post has no other pictures. |
For the more entertaining but slightly horrifying plastic
surgery post by Kpopalypse, go here. Otherwise, enjoy the wall of irrelevant rambles.
Like everyone
always says, cosmetic surgery is one of those ‘been-there-done-that’
territories in the Korean Entertainment world. It’s no secret that a lot of
your favorite idols, actors or actresses have bought themselves some double
eyelids and a more prominent nose bridge, but what’s the big deal about it? Did
Bom’s latest adjustment hurt anything (except maybe your eyes)? Well, let me
tell you why Botox shouldn’t affect your oh-so-delicate feelings.
First, mentally speaking. People assume that when you get plastic surgery you totally hate yourself and can't stand the sight of your own face, but do they ever see a little jaw shave as a positive thing? If someone feels conscious about something then it's their face and they can fuck with it all they want. It's not like it's your fault when they end up being bloated and fug as hell. A lot of women who get plastic surgery just see it as improvement to their outward appearance, it is by no means a judgement of their character, work ethic or personality.It will not hurt you, murder you in your sleep, kill your parents or make you fail basic math for the third year in a row.
First, mentally speaking. People assume that when you get plastic surgery you totally hate yourself and can't stand the sight of your own face, but do they ever see a little jaw shave as a positive thing? If someone feels conscious about something then it's their face and they can fuck with it all they want. It's not like it's your fault when they end up being bloated and fug as hell. A lot of women who get plastic surgery just see it as improvement to their outward appearance, it is by no means a judgement of their character, work ethic or personality.It will not hurt you, murder you in your sleep, kill your parents or make you fail basic math for the third year in a row.
Now for a bit more complex medical shit. Here on the internet there are things like these shits. I'm wondering when that person became an expert on medical problems and how much they actually looked into shit before deciding to write their cute little rant about it, and maybe those idols did use their problems as an excuse to visit Dr. Lee. However, did you know that cosmetic procedures were originally developed in order to help treat illnesses and fix deformities? Now you do.
"Wait you teenage idiot, what do you know about this shit?" Well, did you know that people read and research this shit, and that they perform procedures similar to those of Dr. Park daily? American doctors perform maxillofacial (jaw shave) procedures every day to correct misaligned jaws. Is something that causes someone pain and makes their life difficult just an excuse to look good? I guess this could partly depend on a person's self-defined boundary between 'need this to live' and 'they just had it done to have it done and used this condition as an excuse.' It also depends on the diagnosis of the medical personnel they consult, the results of which are usually not just blurted out for fun.
Of course, there are always those really scary Gangnam Unnir that people always talk about, and verious other cases of scary because of plastic surgery. They're horrifying in pictures, yes, but you probably haven't considered the fact that they probably probably cake on the makeup photoshop their chins pointier and their eyes larger, even after 10 visits to the clinic. They'd probably still be a little horrifying in real life, but who gives two shits? Most of us are never going to step foot in Korea anyway.
Of course, there are always those really scary Gangnam Unnir that people always talk about, and verious other cases of scary because of plastic surgery. They're horrifying in pictures, yes, but you probably haven't considered the fact that they probably probably cake on the makeup photoshop their chins pointier and their eyes larger, even after 10 visits to the clinic. They'd probably still be a little horrifying in real life, but who gives two shits? Most of us are never going to step foot in Korea anyway.
Now, did you learn a lesson from all this, or are your feelings still extremely hurt after seeing Bom's face from a new angle? Really though, unless it's your face then you should probably leave it alone. There are many reasons why one would want to adjust their face, but if it benefits them and they feel confident about it then you probably should too. Calling a stranger over the internet fake, a monster, scary or stupid over a screen is never the right thing to do and you'll be the one looking dumb in the end.
TL;DR: Leave others' faces alone you nosy mofo
TL;DR: Leave others' faces alone you nosy mofo
Have I missed out on something that eyk said? What did they say this time?
ReplyDeleteI don't get the EYK connection here either. But then I only click their videos to see what Martina is wearing.
DeleteI have nothing against EYK, but for people living in Korea they sounded just like ignorant people who observe the results of cosmetic surgery through sites made for gawking.
DeleteWhen? In which video or article? Not doubting you, just wanna see - so then the reference makes sense to me.
DeleteEYK is mentioned in one if the links (I'm pretty sure it's 'these' in the post).
Delete"It's not like it's your fault when they end up being bloated and fug as hell." - It certainly is if you support the economy and beauty ideals behind it.
ReplyDelete"Now, did you learn a lesson from all this" - To be honest, not really.
What you said is just as over-simplified and superficial as what the other side says (just not as extreme as "plastic monster" screamers).
Like so many other social problems, this runs much deeper than just "everybody can do with their body what they want" and you are doing it a great disjustice by making it seem so simple.
True, the problem is in essence more complicated that everyone could think. Here's a link for more insight: http://thegrandnarrative.com/2010/03/18/korea-cosmetic-surgery-caucasian/
DeleteFrom the link:
"One of the driving factors in contemporary society as to why Korean women go under the knife is because 1) cosmetic surgery is a marker for upper class wealth 2) social mobility and 3) economic stability. Women get their faces done or whatever part they deem necessary to look prettier because beauty gets jobs and husbands in an extremely competitive market, and I mean both the market for jobs and husbands.
[...]
Korean society is not only very conscious about appearances but how those appearances conform with what the cultural norms are. Therefore, if one girl gets a job because of a pretty nose or eye job, then there will be tons of women who will go get that nose job in the hopes that their chances for getting the next job will be increased. Its a dog eat dog world."
it's not that the points he makes are necessarily false but his white messiah shit is killing it for me.
DeleteIt's a her, I believe.
DeleteIs it the seemingly heavy emphasis on US influence that bothers you? I didn't really get a bad impression off of that, could you elaborate?
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Deleteaaahhh i missed the bit where he was like "i'm going to pass over to anna" the woman who wrote the bulk of it seems to be asian so i guess the white bit doesn't quite stand in the literal sense
Deletetbh that was just my earliest (and probably too-harsh) reaction to the cheesy ass photographs and a couple of paragraphs i was focusing on and this is probably just me and my nonsense but the way the article talks about korean women is...
patronizing?
their voice in this whole narrative is too collective for me to see it as accurate, and although it is a rare, well-researched piece that states some interesting facts, i personally just don't see the same conclusions that both of the authors are drawing.
on one hand the article might have had something missing if there were no conclusions, and on the other i don't believe that the writers could be unaware that people often take anything with a hint of credibility on the internet as the word of the lord
That's reasonable, I'm not sure whether or not she's Asian or where she comes from but she says in the comments she's only been in Korea once (when she was 11 years old).
DeleteThe way I understood the article is, that it's not really about the Korean women but the ideas of beauty of which Korean women obviously plays a big role in, and how those ideas developed.
I don't consider this as an indisputable conclusion either, but if anything it is a nice piece that makes you think about the matter in a different way.
If you haven't read the comments, I recommend you take a look.
Also I think that blog is aimed at people who *don*t go off with the Word of God but can also question and discuss the matter :p
So we shouldn't comment on the consequences of plastic surgery craze on south korea because some people (not so many if you see statistics of plastic surgery on the country. I mean, just look at how many people travel to SK just to get the face done. If it's was for medical reasons they would have done it in their country) do it because of deformities and because everybody should have a plastic surgery at least once("There are many reasons why one would want to adjust their face, but if it benefits them and they feel confident about it then you probably should too") . I don't even...
ReplyDeleteOkay, let's take a moment to think of it from the perspective of the person getting the work done on Their face. Even if it is for medical purposes, how many faces do you get in your lifetime? One. Whether people admit it or not we all judge someone a bit by how they look, it's just human nature. If you're from a country where the doctors could mess up your face doing something as simple as ptosis correction, wouldn't you rather be in trustworthy hands? I'm sure you've looked at some before and after photos and can agree that Korean plastic surgeons do a good job. Some people come from countries where the surgeons only know how to perform surgery on a certain group of people, and the same facial features would look wrong on Asians. If you had to get your jaw shaved because of a dental Problem would you be okay with having a lopsided chin the Rest of your life? Probably not.
Delete'we all judge someone a bit by how they look'
Deleteyet you overlook the fact that we as a species are socialized right now to have this much of an appearance focus and take it as a given that looks are necessarily this important. while i agree that not everyone who has plastic surgery hates themselves and that people should have autonomy over their bodies, your argument in general comes off as a little superior without breaking much ground as to why you think the way you do
The fact is that people make out Asians specifically getting plastic surgery to be a bigger deal than it really has to be. It's no secret that the most common invasive procedure is the double eyelid surgery, which is even less invasive than LASIK and those boob jobs western women love getting. Double eyelid surgery is also a very similar procedure to ptosis correction. The Botox they tend to get is usually to give their noses just a bit of volume, very different from the Botox American celebrities get to fuck up their faces with. All procedures aside, plastic surgery in Asia has become one of those exaggerated things people love to talk about and portray in the most negative light possible, ignoring the fact that their country is probably full of people with fake noses.
DeleteAnyway, I guess my view is that by saying people have society issues and distorted self-images for getting work done, it's not going to make them feel any better than telling them their eyes are too small or their face is like a square. Did you know that most people outside of Asia don't know what the hell double eyelids are? Fun fact for you. Until people from other countries started gawking at it, no one really cared. Let's face it, different countries have different mentalities on things, and we can't really blame one thing for how our society is today. We have just collectively as people judged by appearance more than we should have in the past, and it will take a lot more than bagging on Dr. Kim to change that way of thinking.
the western media tends to make a huge patronizing deal out of the whole "prastic kolean" thing but in general that's true of the way it portrays most people (especially women) from other countries. martial arts a trend among urban women in middle eastern countries? obviously it's because they have no other means of feeling empowered in their horrible oppressive country, those poor dears. plastic surgery street in gangnam? obviously it's because their horrible oppressive country makes them feel like shit, those poor dears. if only they could live with us!
Deletei'm from asia but i had no idea what 'double eyelids' were before kpop came into my life (tbh the only thing i've learnt from making this distinction is that single eyelids are a lot easier to 3D model lmao), and i think it's generally true that people from countries where they're common tend to notice them more (although being raised in india i will say that i was unconsciously aware of people with single eyelids as being 'different' from me because there's some mixing of ethnicity there (kolkata chinatown, northeastern parts, immigrants from nepal/tibet) because they're discriminated against very often, but indian racism is a whole other topic)
100% agree that the existence of terms like 'plastic surgery monster' is not helping anyone, i wish that came across more in your piece though.
"Until people from other countries started gawking at it, no one really cared"
not really sure what you're talking about here? if you were talking about plastic surgery in general, i don't think that koreans care any more or less about it than they did before media coverage of it, if anything it's made people from other countries seeking plastic surgery more aware of their options and helped business. and i don't really think that people blame plastic surgery for problems in society? at least the way i've always seen it was like the end result of a lot of things that predate the possibility of inessential surgery
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ReplyDeleteThe movie "Crush and Blush" and Kim Ki-Duk's "Face" expose the hipocracy on both sides pretty masterfully. This is why I love Korean comedy movies. There is always waaaaaay more going on under the surface, social commentary is thick and not at all obvious (Attack the gas station is basically a mocking of the class system disguised as a Bill and Ted movie.)
ReplyDeleteOne thing that baffles me about this issue is how everyone seems to think that Koreans are the only species physically capable of receiving plastic surgery.
ReplyDeleteI find it to be a problem too. When people look into the whole "Korea is #1 in plastic surgery" thing I'm surprised that they don't see that western nations cover the other top spots underneath it. It's funny because when I talk about plastic surgery here my friends still ask 'wtf is a double eyelid?' Lol
DeleteKoreans aren't a species.
DeleteMy Caucasian friends also have no idea what a double eyelid is.
Delete