‘Beauty standards in Singapore are just about the identical too if not worse’

11 May

On a recent trip to Korea, a beauty and lifestyle influencer allegedly encountered two men who made fatphobic comments toward her.

Natalie Naploes (@naploes), a Singaporean content creator and college student, disclosed a recent encounter she had while vacationing in Korea.

“Hi, so I just got here back from Korea and I’m back in Singapore now, and I just wish to speak about, like, my very real experience with the fatphobia and pretty privilege in Korea,” Naploes starts. “Every country has, like, different beauty standards but in Korea the wonder standard is, like, being a skinny, pale, skinny woman. Due to the whole K-pop, like, culture in Korea, everybody’s very harsh on, like, looks and so they expect you to be a certain size to slot in.”

While in Hongdae, a bustling neighborhood in Seoul, Naploes and her friend got here across street performers who she noticed were “average-sized young girls.” They appeared to have an identical body type and were of comparable age to Naploes, too.

‘Once I let you know I never looked back so hard in my life, like, I nearly got whiplash.’

“It was raining the entire week, so it was really, really cold and so they were wearing short skirts and, like, crop tops and stuff,” she explains. “So my friend made a comment and she or he was like, ‘Oh, the weather is so cold, like, how are these dancers, like, not feeling it?’ She said it in English.”

It seems Naploes and her friend weren’t the one ones on this conversation.

“These two Korean men behind us, they’re, like, about mid-20s. They said back in English, ‘It’s because they’re so fat. That’s why they don’t feel the cold,’” Naploes reveals. “Once I let you know I never looked back so hard in my life, like, I nearly got whiplash…I just turned and I stared at the fellows’ eyes. I used to be just appalled.”

In line with a study conducted by Jaehee Jung, a fashion psychology and consumer culture professor on the University of Delaware, body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and distorted perception of body image and weight proved more prevalent in South Korea than within the West and China.

Naploes believes the lads spoke in English because they knew she and her friend could understand them. On condition that she is identical size as these dancers, Naploes wonders if the artificial his comment in English in an effort to insult her as well.

“In Singapore, I could be considered an average-sized girl. But in Korea, they probably think I’m, like, obese,” she says. “This is the reason I fully feel for those K-pop idols with, like, body image issues and stuff…Especially for young K-pop idols. They’ve thousands and thousands of individuals commenting on their bodies each day.”

The predisposition for Korean women to feel dissatisfied with their bodies and fear being obese is further demonstrated by what’s generally known as the “50kg myth.” This “myth” stems from the assumption that “a lady weighing over 50 kilograms (110 kilos) is chubby in Korea, no matter their height, as girl group members often speak about breaching the 50kg bar as whether it is something unimaginable,” Choi Jae-hee of The Korea Herald reports.

Despite her experience, Naploes does urge people to go to Korea, and notes that not everybody is like those two men. She reminds potential travelers, nonetheless, that pretty privilege is sort of pervasive within the country as well.

“They treat you very, very in another way should you’re all dolled up with makeup and wearing a pleasant outfit,” she says. “As in comparison with, like, if I had my glasses on, no makeup on. They treat you so in another way.”

‘Omg I might’ve been so mad! I discovered that girls were the sweetest in Korea! They often got here as much as me and my friends to inform us how pretty we were etc.’

Naploes’s video has generated a conversation about beauty standards in Korea, with some commenters noting that the hyper-criticism of girls’s bodies can also be prevalent in Singapore.

“This is the reason I’m afraid to go to korea cause i do know myself and that i am a somewhat sensitive person so idk if it could grow to be an excessive amount of for me,” @ansqiii wrote.

“Omg I might’ve been so mad! I discovered that girls were the sweetest in Korea! They often got here as much as me and my friends to inform us how pretty we were etc,” @toucheamafleur revealed.

“I’m about to travel to Japan and Korea, and I’m absolutely petrified of getting comments about my weight,” @aensily admitted.

“Beauty standards in Singapore are just about the identical too if not worse,” @xxibgm argues.

“Isn’t it the identical in Sg???” @tylersaaaf asked, referencing Singapore.

As suggested by some TikTok users, Singapore isn’t without its own narrow set of beauty standards. The truth is, this was made especially evident in 2014 when British Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. posed for the duvet of Nylon Singapore’s January issue. Fans couldn’t help but notice that she looked different, and it’s resulting from the incontrovertible fact that the publication allegedly whitewashed the Grammy nominee’s photo.

“The bias toward fairer skin” in Singapore and beyond is a results of what Forbes author Ruchika Tulshyan has dubbed a “colonial hangover.”

Rebecca Eu, a Singaporean entrepreneur and owner of Mei’s Own, a social enterprise that helps underprivileged students earn a living, revealed to Vogue Singapore that she’s struggled with weight her whole life.

“In Singapore, I all the time felt that the ladies I grew up with had a selected look. They were all tall and fair and linear,” Eu explained. “I remember getting kicked out of ballet class due to sound I made after I landed on the wood floor versus the fragile tap these swans would make compared. I used to be 8 when my ballet teacher called me an elephant. I don’t remember much of my primary school life but I keep in mind that.”

Naploes’s video serves as a reminder for ladies, regardless in the event that they’re from Korea, Singapore and even the West, to be mindful of the harmful beauty standards that exist. While it’s unfair to reprimand a complete country for the actions of some, it’s necessary to stay vigilant in understanding that folks’s opinions of your body don’t define your worthiness or desirability.

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