I'm always intrigued by the importance of appearance in Korean society. Korean papers and magazine abound with articles and ads to better one's looks. I see this as usually a good thing...except when taken to extremes.
Chosun Ilbo notes..
Korean women are among the most insecure about their looks in Asia and thus the most open to plastic surgery, a survey suggests.
The poll of 2,100 women across Asia by Unilever showed only 33 percent of Korean respondents satisfied with their appearance, the second lowest among nine countries surveyed following Japan. Of Korean respondents, 43 percent said they were overweight.
More than half or 53 percent of Korean women answered they considered having plastic surgery, the highest among surveyed countries. The cosmetic surgery rate of Korean women is already the world's highest with 17 percent. A staggering 80 percent of plastic surgery patients said they were dissatisfied with the results.
About 42 percent of respondents appeared to put more weight on the opinions of men than their own, saying their confidence in their looks was mostly affected by their husband'’s or boyfriend'’s opinion. Nearly all or 98 percent of Korean women said men value a womanÂ’s looks above everything else. Ham In-hee, a sociology professor at Ewha Women'’s University, says women in patriarchal societies tend not to respect themselves. She said Korea was seeing a vicious circle whereby men who have the power in the media ceaselessly reproduce their ideal type of woman, and women try to fit themselves to that ideal.
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