The issue of conforming to societal ideals has been around for far too long, and sadly it is prevalent pretty much everywhere on this planet. Although women in every culture are relentlessly faced with the societal “ideals” of appearance and mannerism in their societies, today I would like to shine a light on the insecurities that so many women of Asian cultures experience because of falsified and exagerrated societal standards of what being an Asian woman, particularly being Chinese, Korean, Japanese, or Vietnamese is “supposed to look and like”. Now of course there is a whole other topic surrounding Asian men, but today the focus is on women.
For years now, there have been stereotypes which affect the way others perceive Asians. i.e.) small eyes, being super smart and good at math, etc., but a lesser recognized issue is that there also exist outdated standards that are perpetrated by even family members who believe that all Asian women and girls should look and act a certain way. Although often these family members only mean well, they are heartbreakingly unaware and insensitive of the harm their words can have on young girls and women; who needs additional criticism from family when teenage years are already tough as is?
The people portrayed above are only a handful of the innumerable amount of Asians who prove the invalidity of Asian stereotypes and standards.
Asian women are petite. Asian women don’t have curves, Asian women have small eyes, Asian women have Asian women are conservative. Asian women are short, Asian women are delicate, Asian women should have pale skin, Asian women are quiet, Asian women are simple.
The stereotypes and standards listed above are only a handful of many, many of which are also untrue and vastly overgeneralized. So if these standards are untrue, where do they even come from? Well in the history of Asian cultures, it is true that Asian women were expected to be these things, and they usually were, because in the old times it was considered taboo to be anything else than the norm.
But in the modern day and age, most people realize that there is a lovely diversity in terms of the personalities and appearances of Asian women; but in my experience at least, the more traditional members of the Asian community have difficulties accepting this, and it’s almost as if their mindsets lie in the 18th century. For example, not all Asians are born tiny. There are equally as many petite Asians as those have curves, both body types are beautiful, and there is no ‘typical’ Asian body type. Small eyes are beautiful, but so are the large eyes on many Asians. Pale skin is lovely, but no more or less so than dark skin. Yet my Asian friends and I who do not constitute everything the 18th Century Chinese woman is expected to be have found that our “flaws” (in quotations, because is having curves really considered a flaw?) are constantly judged by Aunts and Uncles.
Also. As an Asian girl, I for one am one of the loudest people in my community, and I am not content to sit back and watch events unfold, I like to actively express my opinion and I’m not afraid to do so. Now although as an Asian woman I am happy to say that no-one has ever criticized my non-traditional personality, I know that it has happened to others around me. However, more so than having a unique personality, I believe that the issue of conforming to artificial beauty standards projected for Asian women is in particular what causes insecurities and doubts.
In popular Korean dramas, Chinese television shows, and in the general Asian pop culture, women are usually portrayed as being, well, the societally correct “perfect” definition of an Asian woman, which might I add includes traits only achievable through plastic surgery. For example, let’s zoom in on Korean Kpop and Television celebrities, who alongside their genre are increasingly rising in popularity. Here is the typical media-perfect Korean girl:
Now for those of us who love watching Asian shows, I definitely feel like the seemingly flawless appearance of every character sometimes affect one’s vision of herself- she may go from feeling beautiful to feeling not good enough, simply because of what is seen on media.
Milky white skin, symmetrical face and eyebrow shapes, super slim figures… the media projects this image of an Asian woman to be ‘ideal’ to society (and since South Korea is an entertainment hub, this stereotypical picture has spread not only to other parts of Asia but also to the rest of the world), but the media disregards the fact that every woman is born beautiful in her own unique way- that not even if someone does not looks like that typical picture of a woman, she is still beautiful. However, since this image is seen so often I know that a mindset in the Korean community has been created which pushes the idea that looking this specific way is the only way to be considered ‘beautiful’, in terms of the standards of outer beauty anyways. Therefore, thousands 0of Korean women are spending money on all sorts of surgeries and beauty procedures done to make them look like the people they see in the entertainment industry. However, little do they realize that their idols also have had surgeries… that no-one is born that ‘perfect’. I believe there is an issue in the fact that these Korean women who are born beautiful in their own way feel pressured to conform to the societal definition of beautiful in their nation, which itself it a bit artificial. However, this is simply my own opinion, and I understand that everyone has the right to look whichever way they like. But is starving oneself, going from a healthy size to overly thin, too look like an ‘idol’ really healthy? Is using 50 + products simply on one’s face a truly productive use of time and money?
Anyways, the example of the Korean of beauty is only one of many which exist in today’s world. To all the Asian girls and women out there who may be feeling insecure because of what a family member said, or because of the things you’ve seen in the media, just remember this:
Just because you don’t look like somebody who you find attractive doesn’t mean that you’re not attractive as well. Flowers are pretty, but so are christmas lights, and they’re completely different.
(anonymous)