Monday, January 7, 2013

Plastic Surgery

I'm not even sure how to broach the subject of the rampant amount of plastic surgery that goes on in this country. When I arrived in Seoul I was taken back by the seemingly uniform and perfect appearance of a multitude of people: Big doe eyes, high shiny pink cheeks, chopped straight across bangs, angular jaw.  I described it to a friend as walking into an alternate world where every girl is a life size Barbie.  

After a little digging it became clear to me that I was not far off in my analogy.  South Koreans start getting their first plastic surgery procedures done as soon as legally possible.  Most plastic surgery procedures are actually high school graduation presents from their parents.  Most people partaking usually start out with a little double eye lid surgery (most common) and move on from there: nose jobs, chin shavings, breast augmentations, brow lifts etc.     

Why the move to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to look similar to everyone else?  Simply put, the Korean culture places a huge emphasis on surface level beauty and everyone buys into it.  Pictures are attached to job applications, college applications, etc and are passed over if the applicant is "ugly".  I even have a co-worker who carries a digitally altered photo of her own 16 year old daughter that shows what she will look like after her planned future surgeries.  She proudly shows me the comparison of the 'before surgery' photo to the 'after surgery' photo.  

This weeks This American Life episode expands on the subject of plastic surgery in South Korea.  If you do anything this week, take a listen.  It's fascinating.   


http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/483/self-improvement-kick#play