Institute For The Future

Korean Male Plastic Surgery Boom

During the first week of my Fulbright residency in Seoul, South Korea in June 2004, I went to a lecture by a departing colleague who had spent the better part of a year and a half making a film about young Korean women and their attitudes and experiences surrounding plastic surgery. At the time, it was estimated that about 20% of Korean women had at least one cosmetic surgery treatment by the end of their 20s. By most counts, this made Korea by far the most avid consumer of these kinds of medical services. Typical procedures include skin lightening, lip reduction, nose reduction, jawline reduction, and eyelid reduction.

 

Now it seems that the phenomenon is spreading to the young male population as well:

Plastic surgery was once mainly a female domain, but men have increasingly been going under the knife around the world to improve appearances as a way to boost self-esteem and compete for jobs. South Korean men have begun to join in, so much so that local media write of men being gripped in a "plastic surgery craze."

 

In other hip cities, the stylish "metrosexual" look is being overtaken by the "ubersexual," a more macho breed whose straight sexual orientation is unambiguous. But in Seoul, the trend veers the other way, toward the "cross-sexual" _ an androgynous form of beauty.