Medicalization of Korean Beauty in Pop Culture
Korean pop culture has been noted as the “Hallyu Wave”, crossing borders with their unique and refreshing take on music, acting and beauty. As the popularity for Korean pop culture continues to grow, consumers are turning more and more towards Korean products. This increased consumerism may be a result of Korean celebrities that frequently acquire sponsorships or become ambassadors for brands, and as fans of said celebrities, individuals will purchase the products to show their support for them or with hopes of achieving the same flawlessness the celebrities radiate.
Several female celebrities or “Korean Idols” have been praised for their beauty. Being thin, pale and having done plastic surgery is considered normative in the entertainment industry. By placing a focal point on these females for their unrealistic bodily expectations, it medicalizes aspects of their bodies as things that can be “fixed” through various means.
Concept of Medicalization
Medicalization was a term coined in the 1970s by several sociologists to refer to the process of transforming nonmedical problems to defining them and treating them as medical problems. They felt that this term was necessary as it became evident that medical jargon and knowledge was being applied to conditions that were not inherently deemed as medical or biological. These sociologists felt that this concept helped to explain how medical authority became integrated into daily life.
Thinness
A hidden rule of the entertainment industry for females is that one must be below 50 kilograms, regardless of height or body proportions, or they would be considered overweight. This rule stirred up a controversy when the winner of Miss Korea in 2018 weighed over 50 kilograms with a height of 174 cm and received a multitude of hateful comments regarding her size.
Medicalization
People often assume that thinness is associated with being healthy, which is not always the case. Many “invisible” illnesses result in thinness. It is not uncommon to find very thin women to have “problematic health conditions such as low bone density, imbalanced electrolytes and malnutrition[1].
It is evident that lipophobia or, fear of being fat is evident in regards to Korean beauty standards. It is interesting to note that in the early 20th century, it was desirable to be overweight and consume large amounts of food as it showed one was rich and able to afford to pay for food[1]. But after industrialization, physicians began recommending to only consume food moderately, an example of their looming medical authority, and the ideal of having a slender body prevailed [2]. Thinness also became associated with self control while being overweight became associated with laziness. This cultural impact was much greater on women than on men as being thin was a method to distinguish themselves from lower classes.
Skin-Whitening
Skin whitening technology and products have been on the rise in the last decade, especially as Korean beauty products begin to make their way across international waters. Many Korean celebrities, regardless of gender, have been recognized for their “porcelain skin”. This refers to the dewy, spotless and translucent complexion they have.
Medicalization
Western beauty companies, such as L’Oreal, have started to cater their products towards the market of skin-whitening. This has caused quite a stir as much of their advertising features Caucasian models using the products when the product itself is marketed towards Asian audiences[3].
Skin whitening can be viewed as a reinforcement of the aesthetic of white supremacy. The emergence of this technology racializes women of colour, deeming it undesirable to be anything but “white faced” and attempts to normalize the white body in being the universal human body.
Plastic Surgery
Plastic Surgery is often associated with South Korea. High rates of plastic surgery are performed in the country, and several celebrities have been outspoken about the procedures they have had done to enhance their features.
Medicalization
“Asian cosmetic surgery” has been used to refer to altering race-typical features to align more with Western beauty standards. This often includes double eyelid surgery or raising the bridge of the nose. By idealizing Western features as the desirable face to have, treatment medicalization relies on pathologizing race-typical features, and cosmetic surgery as a way to restore “normal” western features [4].
This may be problematic for the younger generations that aspire to be like these “Korean Idols” and view the faces they were born with as an issue that can be fixed by plastic surgery[5]. By integrating plastic surgery into their daily conversations, it reduces the stigma that remains around the term, but may also give rise to fans and consumers of Korean pop culture to turn to plastic surgery to achieve a certain type of beauty.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chrisler, J. C., & Johnston-Robledo, I. (2018). The (un)healthy body. Woman’s Embodied Self: Feminist Perspectives on Identity and Image, 123-140.
- ↑ Gracia-Arnaiz, M. (2010). Fat bodies and thin bodies. Cultural, biomedical and market discourses on obesity. Appetite, 55(2), 219-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2010.06.002
- ↑ Mire, A. A. (2009). “Soaping the Cells”: Science, Beauty and the Practice of Skin-Whitening Biotechnology. Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
- ↑ Aquino, Y. S. J. (2017). “Big eye” surgery: the ethics of medicalizing Asian features. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 38(3), 213-225. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1007/s11017-017-9395-y
- ↑ Adams, J. (2013). Medicalization and the Market Economy: Constructing Cosmetic Surgery as Consumable Health Care. Sociological Spectrum 33(4), 374-389. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1080/02732173.2013.732895