Escape the corset How South Koreans are pushing back against beauty standards(2)

Beauty is big business in South Korea. The country is among the world's 10 biggest beauty markets, and was worth around $13 billion in 2017, according to market intelligence firm Mintel.

It has also long been known as the "plastic surgery capital of the world," with about 22% of women saying they have gone under the knife, according to South Korea's National Youth Police Institute. Of those, about half agreed with the statement that they'd done so "because appearance is important in life."
"Women are investing time, efforts, energy and money to look good in front of men,"
"Before the 'escape the corset' movement was popular, people did not hesitate to say 'you're pretty.' They thought it was a compliment," said 20-year-old Oh. "But now people are starting to realize that it's not a compliment and that it's a language that limits people within the standards that they expect."