Kimberly Hoang’s reading, “Constructing Desirable Bodies,” talks of the constant alterations made to conform to the desires of men globally, whether it be Vietnamese, South Korean men or western men. It is sadly no surprise that women have been forced by society to feel that they should conform to a certain “type” to be appealing. To conform, certain physical alterations, products, and procedures can be made to be deemed acceptable, alterations that I know most of us are familiar with: a rhinoplasty A.K.A. nose job, a face lift, breast augmentation, lip fillers, permanent makeup, double eyelid surgery, the list grows endless. Yet, the beauty standard that is causing an absolute stir, not only in Asia, but all over the world is skin-lightening cream.
The following video is a Thai advertisement for pills that whiten the skin, very evidently causing absolute turmoil in the media due to the blantant racism towards darker-skinned individuals. It was immediately removed by the company Seoul Secret and they issued a quick apology for the racist overtones.
“Eternally white, I am confident.” This advertisement makes it a point to show their audience that if you are not fair-skinned, you automatically don’t take care of yourself, you are not confident, ultimately not being good enough f0r society and being considered lower, not looking like the idols and stars of Korean pop culture.
Hoang writes specifically about Vietnamese sex workers and their struggle to look beautiful to their male clients. “People come to Asia for beautiful Asian women, not for women who look Western” (Hoang). The workers were encouraged to look like the K-pop group, the Wonder Girls, by wearing lots of makeup and baby powder, embodying the “beauty ideals of Korean pop stars.” All over Asia, the beauty standards have been set and reinforced by South Korea. Even if that means, taking a pill to lighten one’s skin because “white makes you win.”
A bigger problem that various countries in Asia are dealing with, including Vietnam and Thailand, is that more affordable skin-lightening “products” are becoming available to consumers of a lower societal class. Individuals who cannot afford these creams and pills endorsed by so many idols can now buy much cheaper online concoctions that contain various harsh chemicals that contain chlorine and “salmon sperm” according to the Thai Food and Drug Administration. People are damaging and literally burning their skin to feel valid.
Skin whitening is not only a way to seem more attractive, it is a way to seem higher in class. Being white is being rich. This idea is maintained by advertisements for these products being sponsored by celebrities and household names, and what an effective way to do so. People of all ages see their inspirations endorsing a product that will cause their fans to look like them, what more could a devotee want.
People must know that having lighter skin does not guarantee validation and there is absolutely nothing wrong with being of a darker complexion. The more these idols support these terrible products, the less hope there is for change to be made.
The Politics of K-Pop 
I really loved your article! I think that these pills and other explicit whitening creams are the clearest, extreme representations of Korean colorism; however, as a skincare junkie and as someone who is very interested in and familiar with Korean beauty, the products that the industry pushes to the everyday consumer are also very much related to the desire for bright, white skin. In K-beauty, there is the ultimate standard of “glass skin.” Glass skin is “clear, luminous, seemingly transparent skin” (source: Allure), and if you Google image search “glass skin,” only light-skinned people show up, and the photos show absolutely no pores or skin texture (which, according to all the facialists I’ve seen, is almost impossible unless you win the genetic lottery). However, people like beauty blogger Chriselle Lim describe attaining glass skin as “basically taking the 11 step Korean skincare routine to the next level,” insinuating that achieving glass skin is possible as long as you work very hard and purchase the correct products (the most popular being Peach and Lily’s “Glass Skin Refining Serum,” which retails for $39 for 40mL of product). The standard is not only whiteness but pure aesthetic perfection. This is dangerous because skin texture cannot be fixed with plastic surgery (unless you go all Silence of the Lambs on us), but is “achieved” through consistent, continuous, perpetual use of over 11 products every single day.
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The highly demanding beauty standards imposed onto Asian women are sad to look at sometimes. It is to the point where if you are not slender, have big eyes with double eyelids, a pointy nose with glass white skin, you might not be deemed ‘beautiful.’ The example discussed in the blog, the Thailand pill that whitens people’s skin, is very interesting to me. The advertisement itself, first of all, suggests that Asian women having to attain ‘perfect’ white skin because, for some reason, being ‘white’ allows one to be “confident and beautiful,” as portrayed in the advertisement. I’ve even heard that having a light skin tone alludes to a higher social status in Asian countries.
However, all of this should not be true. People are different and everyone has a different type of skin tone that’s unique to them, let that be light or dark. No one should feel bad about the tone of their skin and the society should not categorize any type of skin tone ‘less beautiful’ than the other. Growing up, I always enjoyed playing outside, and most of the times, I would not put sunscreen on. Consequently, over the years, my skin has tanned quite a bit compared to before, and I loved it. I thought my skin tone looked good on me and my foreign friends (I went an international school in Zambia – Africa) thought the same. However, the moment I returned to China for summer vacation, the critical comments targeting the color of my skin, even from family and friends because they assume that’s the way it’s supposed to be – criticize people’s skin color if it’s not light. The color of one’s skin does not, and should not, be an agent of categorization in any way, and one’s darker complexion does not make him or her lesser of a beautiful and confident individual compared to others.
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I think this post highlights something that I have been wondering about as I’ve watched the spread of hallyu. With the spread of Korean media comes the spread of Korean beauty standards. This is going to have an inevitable effect on all areas that embrace hallyu. While this can be a benefit in some countries that have been subjected to the kind of “de-orientalization” that entailed pursuing a Western beauty standard, it still has its negative effects. For many people, it promotes a very unrealistic and unattainable beauty standard. As seen here, it promotes the idea of having whiter, brighter skin. Many Southeast Asian people have naturally darker complexions, and advertisements like this only promote the pre-existing colorism that colonialism put into place. In this case, rather than escaping that idea of “de-orientalization”, they are inadvertently playing into it.
This is also a discussion that can be had about when k-beauty expands beyond the realm of Asia. In countries in Latin America, where k-pop is incredibly popular, the majority of the population does not naturally conform to the ideals of k-beauty. Much of the populations have darker hair and a wide variety of hair textures which are not represented within the realm of hallyu. This is going to have an effect on the fans who consume this media that seems to constantly be reminding them that they are not beautiful.
While I think it is great that other ideals of beauty are being promoted around the world, I feel that the standards are k-beauty are simply replacing the pressures to conform that were previously put in place by white beauty standards, which is something that needs to be addressed critically, rather than promoted by idols.
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