How Beauty Sick is Korea?

“....There’s a lot of work to be done”. I read the last sentence of the book ‘Beauty Sickness’. One question was all along on my mind as I was reading this wonderful book. ‘How beauty sick is Korea?’

Unlike the book that was based on scientific research, I can say the answer to the above question without any doubt. Because the answer is everywhere. In everyone. Every day I wake up, walk to my class, and see someone doing their makeup, checking themselves out in the reflective glasses of buildings, subways, restaurants, etc.

Before reading the book, if someone asked me the same question, I would have said, ‘No’. Because back then I didn’t know about the havoc of beauty sickness. Instead, I used to admire the beauty of every Korean girl around me. Their flawless makeup, their graceful hair, and immaculate clothing style. Everything was a feast to my naive eyes.

But now when I think back to all those times of admiration, after reading the book, my answer without a doubt, changed to ‘A lot’. In my English practice program, E-lounge, I came across a junior girl, who is skipping lunch because she thinks she is fat. While to my eyes, she looked fine and healthy. I have another Korean friend who keeps checking every three hours if her makeup is alright. There are many instances I can iterate and others could relate to.

I realized how much time, money, and mental and physical effort goes into those perfect appearances. Instead of awe, I feel bad for them. They might not think the same way as me but yet I can’t think of other alternatives to these strenuous beauty practices. These are the people, who’ve got a lot of potential that can be easily unlocked with the right effort and time. But the direction of those precious resources is being directed towards something superficial.

Not only young girls, I think women of every age in Korea have the same pressure. I say this because every one of them looks like they can be featured in beauty magazines (in my eyes at least!). And it’s very understandable because of all the pressure around them. It is very obvious to someone like me who is a foreigner without a deep knowledge of history and culture.

Just stop wherever you are and look around. You will see at least one of those hyper-polished ads featuring super-refined k-pop idols, whose beauty is on a whole different level but yet the pressure it gives on ordinary people is immense. Even today, I was watching a Korean drama ‘My liberation Notes’, in which the supervisor makes fun of the female lead pants. It all feels so common that women here have to be super pretty all the time. The evil force of beauty on Korean women is everywhere.

And not just the natives, I feel like every girl who comes to Korea somehow try to fit themselves into these unrealistic molds. Let us take my own example. I consider myself to be aloof when it comes to being pretty. Coming from a country that doesn’t emphasize beauty, I never had to put an ounce of energy to beautify myself. But that changed instantly after coming here. I started focusing more on how to look and I must say it drained me a lot. After a while, with much-needed self-reflection, I dropped everything and started to be myself once again.

And what did I feel? Freedom. I wonder what if every Korean woman stops or at least reduces their beauty efforts? Will they feel free like me? Will they be cured of their beauty sickness? Will they realize the evil effects of beauty? If yes, how can these women be helped? How can they just be more than beautiful? How can they achieve much more? A lot of questions trickled down my mind. Indeed, there is a lot of work to be done.