Gender Object Analysis-Plastic Surgery Advertisement in South Korea

When I last visited South Korea in 2013, I noticed there were advertisements everywhere promoting facial reconstruction, or, simply, plastic surgery. They were these large posters hanging from billboards to inside subway stations. And these posters were geared toward a specific group of women. The advertisements had before and after pictures of mostly women in their 20s and 30s, ages when women are capable of working and to get married. Statistics show that 76% of women in these age groups have done some sort of reconstructive surgery and, overall, one out of five women in South Korea have undergone plastic surgery, all the while 40% of clients were male.

Blepharoplasty, or double eyelid surgery is the most common surgery done in Korea. Most Koreans have what are called monolids, where there are no folds or creases above the eyes. The double eyelid surgery helps to create those creases to make the eyes look bigger. Today it's more about looking attractive but, in the past, it was more of a racially charged issue.

In the early 1950s, an American plastic surgeon was stationed in Seoul to perform reconstructive surgery on soldiers who were wounded during the Korean war. During his time in South Korea, he had observed the way most Koreans looked and wrote an article stating that those with monolids have a passive, stoical, and unemotional look that can be interpreted as looking sleepy. Being influenced by Western looks, Korean women working in the sex trade would approach the surgeon to get the double eyelid surgery done so that they can be appealing to the American soldiers stationed in South Korea. Moreover, Korean women who were already married to American soldiers would get the surgery done so that they can "fit in" to their adopted homes. The surgeries were performed to blend in better with the West and, thus, reflects the American dominance apparent in South Korea at the time.

So now, because it is a big part of their culture, plastic surgery has become normalized in South Korea and has become a big part of the Korean culture and its social norms. Koreans do not view plastic surgery as a way to look more "Westernized" anymore but as a way to look more attractive. For women, it is ideal to become a "Bagel Girl," to have a baby face and be glamorous at the same time. South Korea is a small country and very congested, which leads to a hyper-competitive society. Space is so limited, people are always looking at one another so the need for plastic surgery is paramount. The more attractive a person is, the more opportunities he or she will have. When women are applying for jobs, companies will look at their headshots first to see if they are attractive enough to be hired. For men, looks are not as important.

It has become an everyday thing, like getting a haircut. It is so ingrained into society that students ask their parents to pay for their plastic surgeries as graduation or birthday gifts. There isn't a minimum age requirement to get plastic surgery done, however, those under the age of 18 must receive parental consent. In addition, in checking some of the more distinguished plastic surgery centers, I found out that all of the plastic surgeons were male and they are ones who pretty much determine how their clients should like.

Plastic surgery is a big industry in South Korea; the industry is expected to collect $3.2 billion in revenue by 2020. There are thousands of clinics specializing in plastic surgery. And these surgeries can be as small as a rhinoplasty, or a nose reconstructive surgery, to whole body makeovers such as liposuction. 500 plus clinics are located just within Gangnam, a district in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, where the richest population tend to live. Although plastic surgery is present in other countries as well, South Korea offers the cheapest surgeries, with the smallest surgery going for $1000 to the biggest surgery going for as much as $55,000. South Koreans can spend up to 30% of their income to get plastic surgery done. Even foreigners travel specifically to South Korea to plastic surgery because it is cheaper and the outcome of the surgeries tend to look more "natural" compared to surgeries performed elsewhere.

It is interesting to see how this concept of beauty evolved to what it is today and how society defines attractiveness in a cultural context not just in South Korea but in many other countries as well.

#genderobjectanalysis #southkorea #plasticsurgery