Thought from an Asian American Woman on Asian Beauty

In Asia, plastic surgery has become a trend. In Korea (where all of my relatives live), my cousins receive plastic surgery coupons and discounts for their birthdays, and their Korean boyfriends constantly tell them they should "make their noses pointier" or "get eyelid surgery." A Japanese exchange student I met last year told me that her boyfriend AND her MOTHER pressured her into getting breast implants AND lip surgery to make her lips look more "European."

!!!!!

I'm sure I don't have to explain how horribly wrong this is, and how detrimental it is to the self-esteem of ANY girl or woman. When Asian males constantly get BLASTED by AF/WM couples, their self-esteem lowers, and they respond (completely understandably) in anger.

This is no different.
Asian women who face constant pressure from family and friends to look more "European," to idolize the women in Vogue, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar, and to simultaneously idolize cute, polite (and mostly plastic), Asian women in foreign media, ALSO face severe self-esteem killers. Unfortunately, for some STRANGE reason, Asian women have been less outspoken about these issues than Asian men have been about their issues.

Where are all my gorgeous Asian women, and why won't you stand up for yourselves??

As a collective Asian population, I'm disappointed and surprised that we haven't been more critical of the ideals of beauty so ingrained in our society. There have been many amazing African-American and Hispanic female scholars and writers who have blasted the ideas and implications of "anglicized" beauty. Where are OUR representatives? Where are OUR fighters?

I'm sick of being expected to compare myself to a WHITE standard of beauty. Double-eyelids, big eyes, pointy noses, defined pointed jaws, tall lanky bodies - these are all characteristics that women all over Asia spend billions of dollars each year trying to acquire through artificial means.

...and that trend is NOT ending at the borders of Asia; it has been spreading into the minds of Asian AMERICAN women as well.

After high school, more than a dozen of my Asian female friends flew to Korea or to Japan to get plastic surgery. What was most appalling to me was that they had faced PRESSURE to get plastic surgery from none other than their MOTHERS, FATHERS, SISTERS, BROTHERS, BOYFRIENDS, GIRLFRIENDS, GRANDPARENTS... from all sorts of people in their ASIAN community!!

I think it's time to put our foot down. YES, it's SO hard NOT to want to look like the beautiful, bold European women in Vogue, and SO hard NOT to want to look like the beautiful Asian woman with the big eyes and the perfect nose on Asian fashion magazines. But letting ourselves be completely subjugated to a nonsensical system of hierarchical beauty is not only degrading to ourselves, but to all of Asia.

To all my Asian ladies: You are BEAUTIFUL. You are GORGEOUS. You have a beauty and distinct look that is NATURAL. You do NOT need to go underneath a knife to look more "European."

To all the Asian men reading this: You guys are equally as good-looking and amazing. It's appalling to me that some Asian women with self-hate issues are bashing you guys for certain "inherent" qualities or characteristics.

My cousin called me one day from Korea, and told me that her boyfriend had given her money for a nose job for her 18th birthday. She raved about it to me, letting me know that she could finally have the "white nose" she had been wanting her entire life.
My friend Caroline, a Korean-American girl, had plastic surgery to get double eyelids and to make her eyes look bigger. She told me that her Korean friends and relatives had encouraged her to do so, because her eyes looked "too Asian and chinky."

All of you Asian men reading this:
I'm glad that so many of you have stood up for yourselves.

...but now... i'm hoping that you can help Asian women do the same.

I've met incredibly shallow Asian men who tell their sisters and girlfriends to have plastic surgery. Yet I've also met men who appreciate the natural beauty of their loved ones. I'm asking you guys to be the appreciate men, the loving and supportive brothers, boyfriends, and friends who will support and love us no matter how "non-European" we may look. I admit that a lot of Asian women have not been supportive of you. But we're all struggling against a standard of beauty that can only be somewhat countered if we struggle and support together.


...to those who read this entire shpeal of mine.. Thanks. ♥ :)

- Lindsey