whitening meh skin

Taken without permission from TheBaffler commenting on this Huffington Post article about the film Slumdog Millionaire.

This might even be worse than Trainspotting. But the middle-brows and semi-informed hipsters love it, it's their flavor of the month, along with Aronofsky's latest bowel movement. Boyle, Tarantino, Coens, Nolan, Aronofsky, Fincher...we are in an era of faux-edginess, of empty, fatuous flicks, big on attitude and bathos, utterly lacking pathos and insight.

All I can say is PWNED.

Even though TheBaffler continues to provide a lengthy list of filmmakers with a sharp edge, this film snob makes an excellent point. I love this article, in which the parents of the child stars reveal that their children are STILL living in poverty, despite Slumdog's international success.

The film’s British director, Danny Boyle, has spoken of how he set up trust funds for Rubina and Azharuddin and paid for their education. But it has emerged that the children, who played Latika and Salim in the early scenes of the film, were paid less than many Indian domestic servants.

My other problem with Slumdog Millionaire is that it instantly reminded me of the Fair & Lovely ads in India.




I'm just as bad. I use Shiseido's White Lucent Serum, which is a skin brightening treatment that supposedly works miracles. I also use BRTC bb cream, which is a Korean foundation that comes in one shade...extremely pale. I have naturally fair skin and tan easily, so my skin tone is always uneven and too yellowy when it's dark.

Koreans worship celebrities with perfect pale complexions. I think Song Hyegyo, Go Ara, and Min Hyorin are especially known for their skin ...but don't trust this because I don't know much about Korean celebrities and what I do know is filtered through soompi forums. Take a spin around popseoul! for the dirt on Korean celebrities.

At the same time, (fake) tan skin is also seen on super duper pop stars like Lee Hyori and Rain. Doesn't Wonbin have a tan too? Tan skin is typically associated with the sexy image in Korea.

Asia is obsessed with skin whitening products. Similar to the double eyelid "controversy", many foreigners and Asian Americans believe the desire for pale skin/big eyes is a result of westernized beauty standards. The double eyelid thing is more complicated, but pale skin is not. Pale skin has been desirable in Asia and the West for a long long long time. Today pale skin is still the beauty standard in Asia. The end. Once again, bored, ignorant people who love hating on white people have beat this concept way too much and it's getting annoying (see Tyra Banks). Of course, I can only assume for East Asia in this case, because most Eastern Asians have naturally pale skin.

Many of my friends are studying modernization in Korea and the effects of globalization on everyday life. Plastic surgery is so common that many do not consider eye and nose jobs to be true body alterations, so many girls get surgery right out of high school before entering college. Plastic surgery and white skin...yeah you get it. Sometimes walking around in Shinchon is bizarre. I'm not trying to feed the stereotype that all Asians look the same, but the college girls here look like copies of each other. Similar face shape, huge eyes, long permed hair, white skin, same fashion, et etc. Korea is one of the most (or the most) ethnically homogeneous nations; you can't blame anyone for wanting to stand out. Korean culture also cultivates and encourages competition, so logically people would compete for good looks too.

Plastic surgery is like the latest accessory in Asia. Having a nose job, forehead implants, shaved, etc. is just another sign of affluence and comfort. Plastic surgery is not just for girls, either. The rate of male cosmetic surgery is also increasing. Sorry, but I'm too lazy to look up exact numbers, but from what I remember, America has one of the highest percentages of cosmetic surgery. Japan is also ranked in the top 20, while Korea (surprisingly!) is after Japan. The difference between Japanese and Korean cultures is hilarious when it comes to saving face; Koreans are generally open and honest about and extra "work" they might have had, while Japanese are too reserved and "polite" to talk about surgery.

Personally, I support cosmetic surgery to an extent. If it makes you feel better, then go for it. However, the extent to which Koreans go for perfection is sometimes frightening. Looking over some articles Ashley read for a class gave me an impression that while cosmetic surgery is great for improving your self-esteem, many people find it addictive. If you're interested, google articles on plastic surgery in Asia!

What I find most interesting is the notion that the dominance of Western beauty standards are frequently blamed for the plastic surgery craze. I think there is a universal standard of beauty that all cultures identify with. A classically beautiful face is called "classic" for a reason. Beauty trends change all the time, but most people can agree upon a basic standard for beauty. If you look at Koreans before 1960, what are the differences in what they considered beautiful before modernization and economic stability? A traditionally beautiful geisha had a flat face, small slanted eyes, and a tiny mouth. How much has Japan's standard of beauty changed?

Well, I'm glad I finally posted this. I apologize for its messiness, but finals are coming!

back in 2004

In June 2004 my family (excluding Beth) and I went to Korea on a tour organized by my adoption agency Eastern Social Welfare Society. We spent 14 days in Seoul and Busan doing touristy activities, but also stayed at the agency headquarters in Hongdae, received a partial read-through of my adoption file, met foster parents, held babies, did the host family thing, met adoptive Korean families, met social workers, toured a huge high school, etc etc etc and some people met their biological parents ( I didn't).



♥♥ We also traveled to Pyeong-taek (my hometown woot woot) to visit ESWS's facilities for older/permanent orphans, mentally and physically disabled, and birth mother shelter (Esther's Home). That was the roughest day for everyone. Meeting the birth mothers and orphaned children was a slap back to reality for us. I don't have any pictures of the birth mothers, for obvious reasons, but I guess I'm allowed to post pictures of the orphans we met.

Most of the children here were older or there were legal issues that prevented them from being adopted overseas. I will discuss the delicacies of adoption in Korea later, but basically, Korean policy DOES NOT favor orphans or the birth mothers. Illegitimate children and their mothers are some of the lowest of the low in Korean culture; "bastard" doesn't even describe the shame associated with being a fatherless child and who knows what the unwed mothers are called. It's not surprising that many of the women who come to ESWS do so in secrecy; some of them even run away from home or are disowned. Most of these children will remain at ESWS until they are adults. They will then be dropped into a society that still emphasizes paternal bloodlines and viewed as second-class citizens who are mostly prevented from obtaining higher education, reasonably paid jobs, and respect.



Some of the mentally disabled teenagers and adults in a work room. As I recall, many of them were also abandoned or had no where to go, so they can work at ESWS as janitors, cooks, and they also do specialized crafts that are sold at local markets.


This New York Times article shows that Koreans are making progress and their government is "trying" to help progress. We were fortunate enough to meet adoptive Korean families during the tour, and their stories were both beautiful and vexing. I don't know how much has changed in 4 years, but the difficulties these families experienced were unimaginable. One father told us that when he had a falling out with many of his friends and acquaintances after announcing their plans to adopt. As described in the article, many adoptive families choose to hide their child's origins in fear of the discrimination upheld by conservative Korean culture. Those who "reveal" themselves are very brave indeed!



I would compare the government's strategy of introducing laws that essentially resemble a quota system for reducing international adoption to the English stiff upper lip, except the Korean government seems to have mastered its capacity for compassion. Lowering standards for Korean adoptive parents and increasing difficulties for more than qualified foreign families is hilariously despicable. As one of the 230,635 adopted Koreans (a huge number tossed in the article), [edited out]. Besides my unlady-like manners, I don't consider myself a low-life failure because I was born an illegitimate child and adopted by white American parents.

Sometimes I really miss being 16. Ah yes, 16, the dawn of jail baiting. Back then I believed I was a very important person and destined to become even more important that I already was and make my mark and whatever...I'm sure all "older" people feel this way. 16 was my golden age of optimism and the world was to be mine. After its passing I became a burned out, mildly depressing, Land's End stretchy pant-wearing, chronic Harry Potter fan fiction reading (not writing, I'm not that creative), canned olive eating twenty something. I am still lamenting the end of Harry Potter and my tanned skin...I WEAR SUNSCREEN ALMOST EVERYDAY and WHY DID SNAPE HAVE TO DIE?! The fat, acne, burned out stuff also isn't my fault--I blame it on college. But more than being young, narcissistic, and ambitious, I associate 16 with my first visit to Korea.

Those 2 weeks in 2004 were the most illuminating of my life (so far). Thanks to that tour, I gained a new view of adoption and the problems Korea faced/faces with adoption. Even better, I got to spend time con mi familia and met other Korean adoptees and their families. I still (kind of) keep in touch with some of the people we met (Caitlin does a better job). So if you can, go on a tour organized by an adoption agency.