Representations of Femininity in Contemporary South Korean Women's Literature

Elfving-Hwang, Joanna

doi:10.1163/ej.9781906876029.i-222

Cited by 5 publications

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“…During this period, official discourses made sense of a divided (South) Korean national identity by emphasizing the ‘traditional’, pre-colonial national culture of the elite pre-colonial yangban class (and the Chosǒn dynasty in particular). These values were generalized to represent ‘authentic Koreanness’ for all (Elfving-Hwang, 2010). Predictably, this precipitated a return to traditional gender discourses that associated women with the nurturing maternal body.…”

Section: Other Colonizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Globalization and Aesthetic Surgery in South Korea

2012

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This article explores the unusually high levels of cosmetic surgery in South Korea -for both women and men. We argue that existing explanations, which draw on feminist and postcolonial positions, presenting cosmetic surgery as pertinent only to female and non-western bodies found lacking by patriarchal and racist/imperialist economies, miss important cultural influences. In particular, focus on western cultural hegemony misses the influence in Korea of national identity discourses and traditional Korean beliefs and practices such as physiognomy. We show how these beliefs provide a more 'gendered' as opposed to feminist analysis, which allows space for discussion of men's surgeries. Finally, we critique the accepted notion of the 'western body', especially its position in some literature as a more unobtainable ideal for non-western than for western women. We argue that this body has little in common with actual western women's bodies, and more in common with a globalized image, embodying idealized elements from many different cultures.South Koreans' alleged 'obsession' with cosmetic surgery regularly hits headlines both in Asia and the 'West' because of its reportedly high take-up rate by both women and men. While statistics on the numbers of people who undergo aesthetic surgery in Korea are not entirely reliable -since most surgeries take place at private clinics and the industry in Korea (as elsewhere) is poorly regulated -the

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Section: Other Colonizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Globalization and Aesthetic Surgery in South Korea

2012

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“…In order to understand the desires and anxieties invested in the penis, its appearance, its size, and its performance in what I call the male malady of globalization, I traced the symbolic construction of the penis as a source of masculine power within a nationalist discourse of emasculation and recuperation in Korea. Penetrative masculinity coheres with national strength in narratives of Korean nation building driven by a gender ideology of masculine valiance and feminine vigilance (Choi 1998;Elfving-Hwang 2010;Miyoshi-Jager 2003). Globally, phallic ambitions have rendered men's bodies vulnerable to capitalist logics of commodification and medicalization.…”

Section: Between the Penis And Phallocentric Nationalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Male Malady of Globalization

Cheng¹

2021

Current Anthropology

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“…Vietnam, also influenced by Chinese Confucian ideologies, has been familiar with the ideal of the polite scholar (hình tượng nho sinh) (Ngo, 2015). Some characters in A further noticeable attribute of soft masculinities is the exhibitionistic display of eroticised male bodies (Epstein & Joo, 2012) and male self-awareness of, or even narcissistic obsession with appearance, as shown in scenes of men grooming and gazing at themselves or enjoying others' gaze (Elfving-Hwang, 2011). Social celebration of this bodily display reflects a trend known in Korea as the momjjang syndrome, which might best be translated as "body master" and which underscores Korean desires for a fit body (Jung, 2011, p. 65).…”

Section: Understanding Soft Masculinitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soft masculinities in Korean dramas most stereotypically draw on a double feminisation of appearance and character in men (Maliangkay 2010;Elfving-Hwang, 2011;Jung, 2011;Khai & Wahab, 2017). Soft masculinity icons tend to have a "pretty" face with boyish, youthful features and a tall and fit figure, and exhibit androgynous fashion marked by floral outfits and feminine-coded accessories.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vietnamese Reception Of Soft Masculinities In Korean Television Dramas: Desires, Identifications, And Gender

Gammon¹

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This doctoral thesis explores Vietnamese audience reception of soft masculinities, defined by the aestheticisation and romantic idealisation of male characters, in South Korean television dramas (K-dramas). Based on interview data collected in 2019, the thesis focuses on patterns of gendered desire, identification, and negotiation in viewers in their 20s and 30s. It highlights the popularity of K-dramas in Vietnam, which have established an enduring presence there since the late 1990s, overlapping with ongoing changes in gender relations following the introduction of the 1986 Đổi Mới (reform) policy, marked by Vietnam’s transition to a market economy and gradual integration into global trade. The thesis demonstrates how the spread of this “Korean Wave” is correlated with a changing local mediascape, the rise of a consumer culture, and a growing interest in exploring the self. In this thesis, I adopt the Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) method, which draws on the solicitation of free talk and storytelling and psychosocial attention to case studies in order to connect interview participants’ biographical details with their viewing experiences. The study is influenced by Judith Butler’s theoretical work on gender and performativity, as well as related material by scholars such as Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. I highlight how a nuanced understanding of the viewing experience treats it as a complex process linked to an individual’s biographical details and explore how this process intertwines with larger sociocultural contexts, including local norms, Confucian values, feminism, Western gender images, notions of modernity, and globalised aesthetic ideals. The study reveals that although gendered desires and identifications are shaped by norms, they can also subvert them, and thus provides empirical evidence for Butler’s theories from a Vietnamese context. It also shows that desires and identifications that result from engagement with fantasy on screen may follow viewers’ personalised logics and open up multiple avenues for interpretations. Prominent themes of viewing experiences in relation to soft masculinities analysed in this thesis include escapism, parasocial interactions with characters, romantic imaginations, melancholic identification with romantic relationships on screen, desires for upward mobility, queer pleasures, ambivalence, and disidentification. The thesis thus contributes to contemporary Vietnamese studies, gender studies, psychosocial studies, media audience studies, and research on the Korean Wave.

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Representations of Femininity in Contemporary South Korean Women's Literature

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Gender, Globalization and Aesthetic Surgery in South Korea

Gender, Globalization and Aesthetic Surgery in South Korea

The Male Malady of Globalization

Vietnamese Reception Of Soft Masculinities In Korean Television Dramas: Desires, Identifications, And Gender

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