By Min Seong-jae
Coming back to Korea, one of the most tangible things I feel and see is people's preoccupation with their physical appearances. This phenomenon is known as lookism, the act of constructing and fitting into a specific beauty standard, often associated with discriminatory notions based on looks.
The obsession with standardized beauty is deeply steeped in contemporary Korean society and culture. Why does my golf instructor look like a K-pop idol and is dressed like one when he teaches golf? And everyone in this indoor screen golf facility looks posh with men wearing neon color tight pants and women wearing short skirts along with knee socks, all carrying luxury golf bags.
The cooks and servers in a rundown dumpling shop I frequent all sport identical eyebrow tattoos that are currently in vogue, and very tight skin that I suspect are signs of Botox use. My barber looks like a model straight out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog and boasts of big eyes made possible by removing a skin fold from the corner of his eyes.
On the streets and cafes, one of the first words Koreans exchange when they meet – whether friends, acquaintances or even strangers are comments about their looks such as "Your skin is so white," "You got really slim," "You should show more of your six-pack." Commenting on people's looks is just a common practice in Korea.
And don't even get me started on Instagram and other social media, where physical attractiveness is openly celebrated with such fervor. Everyone is obsessed with looking cute and sexy, often with the help of filters and special effects; 50-plus-year-olds boast of their 20-something-like bodies and faces, and followers swoon over their youthful looks.
It is no secret that Korea is the world's top destination for cosmetic surgeries, and the products and procedures associated with K-beauty are beyond one's imagination. Most of them are designed to make you fit into a specific mold of beauty: pale skin, big eyes usually with double eyelids, a small and V-shaped face and a slim body without wrinkles.
There is nothing wrong in caring for one's beauty. Almost everyone, including me, wants to look good and young and be loved by others. But if the beauty we strive for is confined to specific molds, and the pursuit of such beauty standards becomes a national obsession, then we lose the ability to appreciate different, diverse types of beauty in the world. In so doing, lookism – discrimination based on looks – may arise as well.
Nine out of 10 Koreans said "looks are important in life" in a 2020 poll by Gallup Korea. Four out of 10 job applicants said they experienced looks-based discrimination when searching for a job, according to a 2020 poll by Career, a job portal. More than a third of Korean female office workers said they experienced colleagues and bosses making offensive comments about their looks, according to a survey conducted in March of this year by a civic group.
You can also easily find anecdotes and stories about appearance-based offenses and discrimination. Not too long ago, many women had to list their height, weight and body size when they applied for regular office jobs. Several years back, when I applied for a position as a professor at a top Korean university, I had to submit my latest mug shot, to which a search committee member criticized me as appearing "too disheveled to look like a professor."
Lookism exists in other countries and cultures. But Korea tops it in its degree and pervasiveness. This is probably because of a combination of many different factors: traditional Confucian culture, which values appearances, manners and social status; the rather recent influence of K-pop and the entertainment industry; and the ultra-competitive culture to best others whether in wealth, education or in looks. Challenging stereotypes, valuing self-acceptance and celebrating diversity are such difficult tasks in the current atmosphere.
Min Seong-jae is a professor of communication and media studies at Pace University in New York City. He is a 2023-24 Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Korea.
