This is sort of a venting thread, so I apologize in advance for that. As several of you know, I have been living in South Korea for the past 8 months. For the most part, it has been a good experience but some things have been very shocking to me, the main thing being the level of blatant racism and sexism in Korean society. I don't know how many people have told me that whenever they go abroad on vacation, they always have to be very careful because they are afraid of getting robbed by black people. Mixed race children (especially the black + Asian variety) are teased and beaten up in school by the other kids. They are referred to as "Twiggy" which is a derogatory term that translates to something like "half-breed." Also, apparently it is acceptable to use beauty as a criteria for hiring a person. For any job whatsoever, you must attach a recent (within 6 weeks) photograph to your resume. I had to do this when I applied for my teaching position. A plain-looking woman will have no chance of getting hired as a secretary. They justify it by saying that they need a beautiful person to deal with customers because they make things more pleasant for them. In fact, Korean society is obsessed with beauty, to the point where many, many people are extremely superficial. One female co-worker's criteria for dating someone are: 1. He must be taller than her (Koreans are very insecure about height. Short people are looked down upon). 2. He must be 2 or 3 years older than her. No more, no less. 3. He must be handsome. Things like personality or sense of humor don't matter to her at all. Also, one of my male students, a businessman in his late twenties, goes on a lot of blind dates. He told me that if she isn't beautiful, then she has no chance at all. He freely admits that he wants someone beautiful because he "has become spoiled by the pretty girls on TV." Korea has one of the highest rates of plastic surgery in the world. Maybe they are even the highest - I haven't looked it up. So many people over here get plastic surgery. The most popular procedure is widening the eyes (Koreans are insecure about narrow eyes and want big, western-style eyes). Nose jobs, liposuction and general face re-sculpturing are quite common too. Breast implants are also starting to take off among the younger generation. One guy, a high ranking director at a huge company, told me the other day that he bases his hiring decisions mainly on how a person looks; specifically, their skin color. In his words, "A bad person usually has a dark complexion" so he will only hire lighter-skinned applicants. Also, he won't hire somebody with a deep voice because that's another sign of a bad person. My jaw literally dropped when I heard this. I guess Barry White better not apply to work for his company. As well, another Canadian teacher at my academy has recently been rejected from not one but two company classes because she is a woman and they want to be taught by a man. She also has a dark complexion, so that would probably go against her too, even though she is quite attractive. I should say that not everybody is like this. I know some Koreans who are not racist at all, and recognize it as a big problem with their society. Same with the superficiality. However, I have been here long enough that I can say with confidence that unfortunately they are definitely in the minority. I think a big part of the problem is that this country is so isolated. Foreigners are somewhat rare. I always get stared at whenever I go out somewhere and you can guarantee that kids (and sometimes adults) will point and say "waygooki!!" (which means "foreigner"). It's actually quite rude when you think about it, but it's common and has become second nature to me. I sometimes wonder if this type of thing exists in other Asian countries like Japan and China. Again, sorry for the venting, but some of the things that I have witnessed over here have been very shocking to me. I didn't realize how old-fashioned some peoples' attitudes are, even though they live in a wealthy, modern society.
Interesting take. Didn't realize Korea was so superficial and obsessed with looks. I've been to China, in the big cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen as well as remote manufacturing towns. Although I have brown skin (Bangladesh), and stuck out like a sore thumb, nobody stared or made any comments. In fact, everybody just went on with there business and just assumed I'm another American.
It really is ****ed at how people discriminate in the world. The US is the most diverse place in the world yet still people say stupid things. My dad actually is a racist(not blatant, only rants when he's with friends or family) and thinks Black and Hispanic people are "lower." It confuses me when people like him go to church and pray like they are all holy, yet they don't think of other races as equal. It sounds like Korea is a few generations behind us. Hopefully in a few more generations the US will be better place as people with a conscious for this such as you or myself will teach their children to treat others and know that others are your equal.
So korean women are like american women except american women prefer $$$ over age. It's shallow, but I don't mind that korean girls take care of their looks. When I was living in China, it was a huge petpeeve that some women, even if they were good looking, they had bad hygene by american standards. IMO, this whole world is about being better than someone else, so you try your best to create criteria to make someone lower than you, whether its looks, education, money, skin color, intelligence,ideology, religion, status, caste, athleticism, height... the list goes on. No matter where you go, you will have discrimination (yes, even in america) it just takes different forms.
^ If Fade's account is very accurate, the problem is that superficial discrimination among the workplace is overt and encouraged. There's superficial Korean American chicks here, but I didn't think it hit that deep.
Trust me Fades account is spot on, couldn't be more accurate. For such an advanced society it is just amazing how ignorant most of the people are. My girlfriend actually teaches at one of those academies (Koreans are obsessed with learning English) and I travel to Korea frequently for work. The sexism (we actually don't send our female chinese engineers there because of this), racism, plastic surgery (and its not limited to chicks, i know several guys who have had plastic surgery), the hiring based on looks its all standard practice. I live in Shanghai right now and i gotta say the chinese are a thousand times better i do get the stares every now and again but it is mostly from the non Shanghainese (migrant workers etc) and you get used to it after a while. Shanghai is a lot more diverse, there are people from all over the world here unlike Seoul where you will basically only find foreigners in Itaewon and chances are they will be from the armed forces. I don't know about Tokyo (Although i have a friend teaching English there and she likes it actually she is planning on renewing her contract). I have heard the people in Thailand are very friendly but have yet to go. Korea pays the best by far (the only reason my girlfriend is there, needs to pay off some student debt and save for grad school). However if money is not important move to China (I know several teachers here that went to Korea first, couldn't stand it and moved here) the people and society in general is nothing like Korea.
Not surprising - you find this in a lot of countries outside the US. As crappy as race relations and racial attitudes are here sometimes, the diversity has bred more tolerance and sensitivity than you would find in a lot of other countries.
Agreed I have not traveled inernationally but i have heard the stories or seen the news I don't think America has anywhere near the worse race relations in fact far from it. It is what makes America great. . . . but as always it can be better. I don't think I need to goto Korea anytime soon Then again . . maybe to reach out to those poor kids and let them know they are beautiful!!!! Rocket River
Unless you're Heinz Ward who apparently was shunned as a child but welcomed back as a hero after being named Superbowl MVP. It's pretty funny that although a mix of black and asian is bad, it's ok if you're a successful sports hero in the US. Your assessment is 100% accurate.
This a typical Job Ad in East and Southeast Asia: " Wanted: Accountant - W/ or W/O Experience Accounting degree from Major university required Below 28 years old, Female with Pleasing Personality Please send CV with Recent Photo to <_addr__> or e-mail to <__>" In the CV, you have to specify your Religion, Sex and Age. I was born and raised in Asia so I know how things work there. When I moved here in the US in the early 90's people were telling me about discrimination and such. I just told them, that's nothing compared to what I've experienced growing up. In 3 years time working here in the US, I became a manager at a big-5 consulting firm even though I don't have a degree from a Major university, have the wrong skin color, and no "pleasing personality".
Nothing like having a cute girl wave at you so you can see a nice clump of pubic hair in her armpits. It's a cultural trait I'll never be able to get over. Seeing a gorgeous girl with armpit hair is like looking at a delicious steak with a huge booger on it (except I still might want to have sex with the steak).
I am half-korean and I agree with fadeaway for the most part. Korea is a racist state. Is it understandable? Yes! Korea is considered to be the most homogenous country in the world. Outside of the American military establishment and tourism, the country has no local minority population. Acceptable? It is, but it shouldn't be. If I had gone to the country twenty years ago, I might have been shunned. It isn't so bad now. Heck, my sister was offered a modeling contract while just walking around in the mall (half-koreans are gaining in popularity in Korea, mainly just Korean-White mixes.) You've all heard about the Hines Ward treatment towards Korean-Black mixing. There is a great hipocracy that you find. My mother, for example, married a white man. This mix was looked down upon by her whole family, but she persevered and married the man she loved. If I go out right now and marry a Black, Hispanic, or even Vietnamese girl, my mother would damn near disown me. Mixing is bad, but if you're going to do, "do it white." Sexism is prevalent as well. Consider this, my mother and her four sisters were entitled to elemtary educations. That is what they were entitled to and that was all. If they wanted to be further educated (they all did), then they would have to pay for secondary education themselves. My mother worked in a factory (really a sweat shop) at age 13. Her two brothers received all levels of education paid in full by my grandfather. More recently, my grandfather bequethed all of his money to the two males. There aren't just cultural rifts between Koreans and non-Koreans and males and females. Ten years ago, my aunt went through a shameful divorce and then married another man here in the States. It has never been said aloud, but it is widely known throughout the family that his father was a North Korean refugee. Very shameful. It is also shameful and pitiful to be from the countryside. Country folk are made fun of. My mother just finished an entire drama (which was very popular) about a country girl who tries to make it in the city. Its a huge play on country stereotypes.
To go on a slight tangent to this topic (was randomly talking about this with some people yesterday), it is a funny misconception "Westerners" have all the time about Korea, Japan and China. Korea and Japan are often looked at as the more "civilized" of the three, but Korea has extremely violent schools, blatant racism and some of the highest levels of domestic abuse. Even though Japan has been a super power for decades, they have clear sexist boundaries, use inherently sexist language and the highest suicide rates. Strangely enough, with all of China's faults, they by far excel in the original poster's regards; that is, there is a much higher percentage of Chinese that accept other races, women have much less of a glass ceiling and have a prominent voice at home. Korean women have plastic surgery up the wazoo. (Literally... they even have hymens resown to imitate virginity.) Anyways
we can thank communism for giving women more power. as far as the racism, I'll agree that the cities are much more used to it now today, but in the deep countryside, stereotypes about race and class still exist on the same level as most other homogenous cultures. Cities are a little different because China has really opened up internationally in Beijing and Shanghai and city dwellers know that globalization is hot right now so they are more open to understanding other cultures. but chicks in the countrside still don't shave their pits.
Mao and the communist party adopted a variety of policies to force equality between men and women. There were some very famous slogan such as "women can support half of the sky as men". In Mao's days it was mandatory to have certain percentage of women in all levels of leadership positions.
