[Letters] Fixing a flawed feminine ideal

Regarding the Oct. 21 opinion piece, “Women dying to look good,” I regret that many women all over the world have been pursuing their physical beauty in spite of possible dangers that they may face. I believe women need to realize and identify their own unique beauty, not be influenced from outside.

Nowadays many women want to look fairer, younger, prettier and more attractive. Their desire for beauty causes them to squander money on all kinds of cosmetics to improve their beauty and get aesthetic plastic surgery to be more beautiful and attractive.

In addition, women have wanted to be slimmer on account of the typically wrong beauty standards since ancient times. They think they can meet a good mate when they are slim and when they look beautiful. The Korean Statistical Information Service reports most causes of divorce in Korea are based on difference of personality and each couple’s misunderstanding in their life, considering the couples that divorced from 2004 to 2007. I’m positive men consider women’s character and personality more important than women’s appearance when they decide who to marry.

Unfortunately, the market of diet food focused on women has been increasing consistently since 2001, according to the Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations, because many women cling to a diet to have slim bodies like celebrity entertainers. Even though they are healthy and keep in good shape, they think they should be thinner like entertainers because of the influence of the mass media. Some of them might suffer from eating disorders and with a very few women this can lead to death because of anorexia.

Our country needs to decide on legitimate regulations on photo editing, like European countries have, on the potential effect of advertisements. If many women see a beautiful, slim celebrity on TV with the warning inserted under her picture that “this photo is graphically edited, don’t be deceived”, they will be free from the obsession that they should be slimmer and slimmer.

Ji Hee-suk, Suwon