Park Jin-hai primarily focuses on K-dramas, entertainment shows and actor interviews. Beyond that, she also pens articles covering the broader arts scene, with a particular emphasis on classical music, dance and various aspects of lifestyle. Since joining The Korea Times in 2013, she has made significant contributions in the realms of hallyu (Korean wave), industry news and international affairs.
Beauty YouTuber leads free-corset movement
Beauty YouTuber Bae Li-na / Captured from her YouTube channel
By Park Jin-hai
By Park Jin-hai
Bae Li-na, 22, a “beauty YouTuber,” says “It is okay not to be pretty.” In her video clip, “I'm not pretty,” uploaded to support the “free corset movement,” Bae puts on makeup and is ridiculed by harassing comments because her face is “away from the beauty standards this society has.”
Then she wipes off all her makeup and says “don't exploit yourself because of who others think you are. You are special as the person you are,” with a big smile on her face.
Amid the free corset campaign that defies standards of female beauty demanded by society such as long hair and makeup, beauty YouTubers who have been spreading beauty tips online have also joined the movement. Bae's clip posted in June received strong backing from women, garnering nearly 5 million views.
Bae, a makeup artist, started to post makeup videos. But after she happened to read the stories of women taking part in the free-corset movement, she realized how many women are suffering from social pressure to be pretty.
“The pressure women feel is tremendous. It is worse among teenagers. Those who don't care about their looks have been bullied and ostracized. Many of those who added comments on my video have been school children aged between 13 and 17, admitting how they hate their looks. I wanted to help those people even if it was just a little,” said the YouTuber in an interview explaining why she posted the video.
Bae, who says she is still studying the movement, explained that her first reaction to it was rejection.
“I thought, what about all those things that I have been doing so far as a beauty YouTuber? I thought that I've done my makeup as I liked it, but thinking it all over, I realized that was not the case,” she said.
The core of the movement lies in “being freed from others' eyes.”
“It is about showing the world that there can be various types of women. It is not just about having short cuts and going out makeup free, but giving women more options. If they don't like to wear makeup, they should have the freedom to choose not to,” said Bae.
She says that she will cut down on the number of makeup tutorials she posts and focus on other content because she is worried her beauty tip videos could work as another corset to women even if that is not the intention.
“Watching beauty tutorials can drive people to think that if they follow such tips they can become prettier, too,” she said. “Until the day when makeup becomes one's true choice, I will show more of my bare face in my videos to let others know that's the way it should be.