Is kpop's beauty standard too stringent?

And does it create unrealistic expectations in society in general?

Recently, I saw some buzz about NMixx's Jiwoo getting body shamed. I also saw Rei and Liz of IVE get talked about for gaining a little weight. We've all seen what idols do to keep thin, males and females alike. Many if not most female idols appear to have, what is likely, a BMI below the normal range. Ofc, then padding can be used to give curves that wouldn't normally be present in most people of that weight.

We also see many idols getting surgery or using fillers to get high nose bridges, v lines jaws, plump lips etc that aren't necessarily super prevalent in the common population.

Are these expectations too much? Do idols really do this because they want to or because they're expected to look a certain way? Does seeing this standard affect their fans and society as a whole? Has it affected you either in the way you perceive yourself or others?

nahri Here ya go!

Quote from dummi

yeah it's sad but it would be hypocritical of me to say that I don't find the standard beautiful on screen, it's just awful because the real life repercussions of these diets and surgeries often leave idols stressed and anxious in their wake. Fans also often pressure idols to eat, and when they do eat and gain weight they pressure them to lose it. There's no way out, very sad

The idols often look great, but I think that we're also just conditioned to it. Larger idols or idols that don't necessarily have the standard facial features can look great too. Also, there are examples of idols that I didn't think looked their best at their lowest weight.

Quote from unbannBLACPINK

yes it is

that said

1 ) most idols lie about their weight so you must take those bmi's with a grain of salt

you'll see a stick skinny idol beside a clearly much heavier idol and they'll both have the same weight on their profile

2 ) idols can look and stay skinny and be more than healthy by focusing on losing body fat instead of muscle

but all that dieting does is strip the muscle from their body so they never get the "toned" look they desire until they are underweight

the main reason behind this might be that losing fat takes more time than losing "weight" ( which is both muscle and fat and is not healthy )

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Yeah, they're likely lying about their weight, but then they're probably lying about their height too so it kinda evens out??

I wish we would just accept idols who aren't super thin. It's sad to me when I see idols talk about or tweet about not eating to look good for fans.

Quote from xx-jenn-xx

I don't think anyone should be starving themselves, you lose so much energy, important vitamins and nutrients, how can they possibly over time give their 100% best if they have no energy at all? People expecting them to be paper thin and then insult/criticize someone for actually being a normal weight make me sick. People can be beautiful without being underweight, even overweight people are beautiful.

Realistically people should be judged on talent not how they look. But we know Korea is known for having high beauty standards. I'd rather see an Idol healthy and happy than underweight, thin, and sick looking. But even so, some people have high metabolisms and no matter how much they eat *coughs* Sunyoul *coughs* they never gain and just stay skinny and amazing looking. People shouldn't be telling others "to eat" if you don't really know their medical history. Maybe they do eat like a "pig" *coughs* Sunyoul *coughs* (pictures sunyoul saying SO?! WHAT DO YOU GOT AGAINST PIGS?) but they just don't gain the weight.

That's just my 2 cents on shit.

Also Sunyoul I love him

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Yeah, some people are naturally thin. It happens. We shouldn't body shame that or anything. It's sad to me that we aren't accepting of more of a variety of body types. I'm not saying that we should have plus size idols or anything, but there clearly are some ideals that lean towards being a bit bigger than very slim and that should be allowed too instead of pushing them until they are literally concave.

Quote from nahri

I don’t know if this is due to Korean beauty standards in general affecting kpop or the other way around but either way, my answer is yes, it’s too strict.

These standards seem to be imposed more on women idols than the men (I could be wrong) though. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand that the idols have to look a certain way but the extreme methods used to achieve the desired results are iffy. Dieting to the point of starvation isn’t okay,, for example.

I feel bad for the underaged idols because unless they have someone advocating for them, they’re pretty much coerced into doing these things. I can only imagine the damage done to their self-esteem because of this.

These practices are open secrets among fans, many of whom have been very vocal about calling out companies who allow these things. So I’m hoping someone is listening and try to implement changes but I won’t hold my breath.

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Unfortunately, while we have some fans that are vocal making sure these idols are healthy, there are just as many fans who start calling people out whenever they aren't perfectly sculpted. It's sad and pbly messes someone's body image up so much especially when it's done from a young age.

Quote from nahri

I remember reading about the hate Hwasa got because of her looks. I was taken aback because the woman is drop dead gorgeous!

She is beautiful, but yeah, she got hate. Look at all the expectations everyone else has to live with too. There are entire groups that are rumored to have gotten the same nose job because we expect a certain look. The ones that really freak me out are the people shaving their jaws or removing their cheek fat. Even if it looks good now, what is that gonna look like in twenty years?

Quote from icyruios

Also I feel like girls have it way harder than guys

Knetz to girl: omg fat please watch your diet

Knetz to guys' WOW MUSCLES DADDY CHOKE ME DEM THIGHS

true, the girls are expected to be super thin, but then the guys are expected to be very sculpted. Unlike where I'm from, there's a lot of pressure for guys in kpop to be beautiful too.

Quote from xx-jenn-xx

As someone who is short and not skinny, i'm not overweight as i've had 2 surgeries but i'm not skinny either, i would love to see someone go on stage that's not perfect, but I know that people who are overweight have a lot of health issues and it may take a toll on them. I wouldn't mind seeing someone with more natural curves on stage, and be healthy. But, I know people will still shun them because they aren't "skinny and perfect" or whatever. I just wish people would look at talent over someones body weight.

It should be about talent, but kpop has a huge looks component. I was told by someone flat out that they are a kpop fan because they don't think western pop allows people to be ugly too much.

Quote from unbannBLACPINK

whether we like it or not, they care about their korean audience first

besides, there are a ton of ifans who dont want chubby idols too, they just wont say it out loud

and no it does not even out

for 99% of human existence we were very skinny with low body fat but as long as you are eating well, its perfectly healthy

but it can be achieved by living a good lifestyle

the problem starts when they resort to fast fixes to get skinny which has health repercussions

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I think there is a difference between healthy low body fat and the ultra low body fat that we see fairly often in kpop. I remember reading an interview with a former idol who talked about how many female idols have body fat so low that they don't menstuate. That's not healthy.